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A Mysterious Desert Bacterium Has Evolved Its Own, Unique Ability to Photosynthesize

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Photosynthesis quite literally changed our world. Plants ‘eating’ sunlight and ‘breathing out’ oxygen transformed Earth’s entire atmosphere into the one we now breathe, and fuel our ecosystems with energy.   Now researchers have caught a cunning species of bacteria with stolen photosynthesizing technology. And their molecular, light-eating device is unlike any we’ve ever seen. “The … Read more

Tonga eruption was so intense, it caused the atmosphere to ring like a bell

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The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai eruption reached an explosive crescendo on Jan. 15, 2022. Its rapid release of energy powered an ocean tsunami that caused damage as far away as the U.S. West Coast, but it also generated pressure waves in the atmosphere that quickly spread around the world. The atmospheric wave pattern close to the eruption was quite complicated, but … Read more

Arctic ‘ring of fire’ solar eclipse of 2021 changed southern auroras. Here’s how.

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A solar eclipse on one side of Earth stimulated aurora displays on the opposite side of our planet, according to a new study. The “ring of fire” or annular solar eclipse of June 10, 2021, passed over sparsely-populated regions near and within the Arctic Circle in Canada, Greenland and Russia, and appeared as a partial … Read more

The Sun Used to Have Saturn-Like Rings That Stopped Earth From Being a ‘Super-Earth’

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Before Earth and the other planets in our Solar System existed, the Sun may have been surrounded by giant rings of dust similar to Saturn’s, according to a new study.   Those rings of dust may have prevented Earth from growing into a “super-Earth” – a type of planet that is about twice the size of Earth and … Read more

Virgin Orbit lands in Times Square NYC to ring NASDAQ bell

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NEW YORK — Another kind of countdown hit New York City’s Times Square Friday (Jan. 7) as a commercial spaceflight company celebrated joining the NASDAQ stock exchange. Virgin Orbit, the satellite-launching company founded by Richard Branson, brought one of its 70-foot-long (21 meters) rocket, LauncherOne, to Times Square amid New York City’s first sizeable snow … Read more

Astronauts ring in New Year aboard space station to welcome 2022

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The astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station are marking the New Year, becoming only the 37th crew in history to be in space as Earth begins another revolution around the Sun. Expedition 66 crew members Raja Chari, Tom Marshburn, Kayla Barron and Mark Vande Hei of NASA, Matthias Maurer of the European Space … Read more