The Holiday ‘Buying Season’ Can Have a Catastrophic Cost, And Not to Your Wallet

As extreme weather events in Canada and around the world are linked to human-made climate change, there is one story that continues to be left out: the connection between climate change and the products we purchase.   Recent research shows that across a product’s life cycle – from raw material extraction through manufacturing, distribution, use … Read more

Exoplanets: Small Jupiter-like worlds hint we need to rethink gas giant formation

We thought young gas giant planets would be large and low-density, but the gas giants around a star that is just 20 million years old don’t fit this model Space 2 December 2021 By Chen Ly An artist’s impression of a Jupiter-like exoplanet Alexandr Yurtchenko/Alamy Two Jupiter-like planets that orbit a young star are much … Read more

Planets: An unexpected gas giant is orbiting a massive pair of stars

We thought that planets couldn’t form around stars with more than three times the mass of the sun, but planet b Cen (AB)b challenges the idea Space 8 December 2021 By Chen Ly The twin stars of the most massive planet-hosting star system to date, b Centauri, and its giant planet b Cen (AB)b ESO/Janson … Read more

5 Things to Know About The James Webb Space Telescope Before It Launches

The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful space observatory ever built, is finally set for launch in late December after decades of waiting. An engineering marvel, it will help answer fundamental questions about the Universe, peering back in time 13 billion years. Here are five things to know.   1. Giant gold mirror The telescope’s … Read more

Fix the Planet newsletter: The tide is turning for sea power

By Adam Vaughan One of Atlantis Energy’s turbines being lowered into the water in Scotland Atlantis Energy Hello, and welcome to this week’s Fix the Planet, the weekly climate change newsletter that reminds you there are reasons for hope in science and technology around the world. To receive this free, monthly newsletter in your inbox, … Read more

Scientists Say We Should Rethink Moons as Planets… And Reinstate Pluto

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has a very strict definition of the word “planet”. According to the definition – drafted, tweaked, and agreed upon in August 2006 – an astronomical body is officially a planet if it orbits the Sun, has sufficient mass to be spherical, and has cleared the neighborhood around its orbit.   … Read more