Years

Comet impact may have triggered decline of Ohio’s Hopewell people 1,600 years ago

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Astronomy and anthropology have blended to help determine what might have triggered the decline of a major North American society 1,600 years ago.  A vibrant culture lived in the Ohio Valley from about 200 BCE to 300 CE. These people were the ancestors of many modern Native American tribes, such as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and … Read more

100 Years Ago, a Quantum Experiment Explained Why We Don’t Fall through Our Chairs

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

100 Years Ago, a Quantum Experiment Explained Why We Don’t Fall through Chairs

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

It Has Been 100 Years since a Quantum Experiment Showed Why We Don’t Fall through Our Chair

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

It Has Been 100 Years Since a Quantum Experiment Showed Why We Don’t Fall Through Our Chairs

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The moment I meet Horst Schmidt-Böcking outside the Bockenheimer Warte subway stop just north of the downtown area of Frankfurt, Germany, I know I have come to the right place. After my “Hi, thank you for meeting me,” his very first words are “I love Otto Stern.” My trip on this prepandemic morning in November … Read more

SpaceX Falcon 9 upper stage breaks up in Earth’s atmosphere, 5 years after launch

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A SpaceX rocket’s upper stage appears to have broken up safely over Mexico, five years after sending a satellite into space. Local reports on Twitter indicated that a part of the Falcon 9 that sent the Echostar 23 mission aloft in March 2017 met its demise Saturday (Feb. 6) after falling into the Earth’s atmosphere. … Read more

Strange twin asteroids, the youngest ever seen, likely broke apart just 300 years ag

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Scientists have spotted two space rocks that may be Earth’s freshest asteroid neighbors. The strange pair of near-Earth asteroids is separated by about 600,000 miles (1 million kilometers), and researchers calculated that they likely broke off the same asteroid just a few centuries ago. “It’s very exciting to find such a young asteroid pair that … Read more

Astronomers Spot The Youngest Pair of Asteroids Ever Discovered in The Solar System

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A pair of asteroids orbiting the Sun formed less than 300 years ago, a new study has revealed. This makes them the youngest pair of asteroids ever discovered in the Solar System, by a factor of 10. The discovery could tell us more about how asteroids crumble, while raising some intriguing new questions.   “It’s … Read more

13,000 Years Ago, a Firestorm Covered 10% of Earth’s Surface, Triggering an Ice Age

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At a point some 12,800 years ago, a tenth of Earth’s surface suddenly became covered in roaring fires. The firestorm rivalled the one that wiped out the dinosaurs, and it was likely caused by fragments of a comet that would have measured around 100 kilometers (62 miles) across.   As dust clouds smothered Earth, they … Read more

Archaeologists Find 40 Beheaded Roman Skeletons With Skulls Between Their Legs

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About 40 beheaded skeletons were among 425 bodies found in a late Roman cemetery uncovered by archeologists in southern England. The team of around 50 archeologists made the discovery during an excavation at Fleet Marston, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, on the route of the multi-billion pound high-speed rail link that is currently under construction, HS2 said.   … Read more