A new breeding ground for endangered scalloped hammerhead sharks (Sphyrna lewini) has been found in the Galápagos Islands, according to the Ecuadorian government. The area was discovered in the coastal area of Santa Cruz Island during a recent Galápagos National Park Directorate (GNPD) monitoring excursion. According to Eduardo Espinoza, the park ranger who led the
Month: May 2019
Sound isn’t just something we hear. It’s a formidable physical phenomenon – a wave of pressure that reverberates through the air around us. But the medium sound moves through doesn’t have to be air. Incredibly loud sounds can also travel through water, sometimes even being the result of particularly noisy fish. But if you really want
Did you know that there are forests in the Arctic? Lush underwater forests of large brown seaweeds (kelps) are particularly striking in the Arctic, especially in contrast to the land where ice scour (scraping of sea ice against the sea floor) and harsh climates leave the ground barren with little vegetation. Kelp forests have been
It’s long been known that cannabis plants are indigenous to Central Asia, but a new study provides a fresh focus on where exactly this genus may have first evolved millions of years ago. Documents dating back to the middle ages show humans have been hypothesising about the geographical origins of cannabis for over a thousand
ARCADIA, Calif. — SpaceX filed a bid protest in federal court against the government May 17, but most details about the protest, including the specific award being protested, remain undisclosed. SpaceX filed the complaint with the Court of Federal Claims, but requested that the details of the complaint be kept under seal. Even the specific
Researchers have pinpointed a previously unknown source of volcanoes in the extreme depths of Earth – in the transition zone between the upper and lower mantle. Until now, we thought we had a handle on the ways in which volcanoes form, welling up from the molten regions in the upper mantle beneath our planet’s crust,
In 1993, Ruth Riechl, the new restaurant critic for the New York Times, penned a memorable review of Sirio Maccioni’s elegant Manhattan restaurant Le Cirque (which closed, at least temporarily, in January 2018). Riechl described two distinct experiences she had at the establishment, first as an anonymous diner, then as a recognized Times food critic;
The HAC draft report notes that the decision to not back the $72 million request should not be read as a complete rejection of the idea of establishing a Space Force. WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee says in a draft report says it will not support the Pentagon’s $72.4 million request to establish a
Fifty years ago, Apollo 10 launched from Cape Kennedy on May 18, 1969. The Apollo 10 mission encompassed all aspects of an actual crewed lunar landing, except the landing. It was the first flight of a complete, crewed Apollo spacecraft to operate around the Moon. The crew members were Commander Thomas Stafford, Command Module Pilot
The US space agency NASA has selected 11 companies including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Elon Musk’s SpaceX to develop prototypes of human landers for its Artemis lunar exploration programme. NASA aims to put the first woman on the Moon’s south pole by 2024 and establish sustainable missions by 2028. “To accelerate our return to the
Most people are familiar with optical lasers through their experience with laser pointers. But what about a laser made from sound waves? What makes optical laser light different from a light bulb or the sun is that all the light waves emerging from it are moving in the same direction and are pretty much in
In 1922, British archaeologist Howard Carter discovered the untouched tomb of Tutankhamen, a minor pharaoh who ruled over Egypt almost 3,300 years ago. When Carter entered the tomb for the very first time and asked if he could see anything, he famously responded: ”Yes, wonderful things.” Tutankhamen’s burial chambers were filled with statues made of ivory,
Finally, 130 years after it was established, the kilogram as we know it is about to be retired. But it’s not the end: tomorrow, 20 May 2019, a new definition will be put in place – one that’s far more accurate than anything we’ve had until now. After the shift was unanimously voted in at the
Lunar Module ascends in orbit. Credit: NASA A half-century after the Eagle kissed the Sea of Tranquility one almost forgets Apollo 10 — the mission that did everything short of actually landing on the lunar surface. To those of us watching it live here on Earth, it was one of the most exhilarating and frustrating
Between 1946 and 1958, the US government tested 67 nuclear weapons in the Marshall Islands. It later dumped radioactive waste from the tests into a crater on one of the islands, placing an 18-inch-thick concrete dome over the horrifying sludge. Because the crater was only supposed to be a temporary storage solution, the bottom of
Sometimes, while waiting for quantum computers to become a thing, or complaining that your stupid laptop keeps dying on 5 percent battery, it’s easy to forget just how far technology has come over the past 50 years. Sure, we can all list off a whole bunch of innovations that have changed the way the world
Perhaps your teacher is just a good a judge of your academic prowess as an exam paper – and that could help reduce some of the exam workload on kids as they go through school. Researchers looked at data collected on more than 5,000 pairs of twins in the UK, and found that teacher assessments
After breathlessly ascending the peak of inflated expectations, and careening down through the trough of despair, digital health seems poised to re-emerge, battered but not beaten, in the form of digital medicine: digital health plus evidence plus humility. Andy Coravos, CEO of Elektra Labs and co-organizer of the 2019 Harvard Digital Medicine Symposium. (Photo credit:
Thornberry is proposing legislation that would make it easier for startups like Capella Space to continue to get private funding and compete for DoD small business awards. WASHINGTON — Capella Space, a San Francisco-based startup that is the first U.S. commercial company to deploy radar imaging satellites, earlier this year submitted a bid for a
The Sun contains 99.8 percent of all matter in the solar system. Under crushing pressure and extreme temperatures generated by gravity, the violent process of nuclear fusion powers the tremendous energy output of the sun. | http://science.discovery.com/tv-shows/how-the-universe-works/ Watch full episodes: http://bit.ly/HTUWFullEpisodes Subscribe to Science Channel: http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=sciencechannel Check out SCI2 for infinitely awesome science videos. Every
The James Webb Space Telescope’s cryogenic vacuum testing at our Johnson Space Center verified it’s ready for the cold, harsh environment of space, and its mission to uncover a part of the universe we have not seen. From distant worlds orbiting other stars, to mysterious cosmic structures, Webb could help answer questions about our universe
Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. has agreed to buy U.S. supercomputer maker Cray Inc. in a deal valued at about $1.4 billion (roughly Rs. 9,848 crores) as the firm works to become more competitive in high-end computing. Cray investors will get $35 (roughly Rs. 2,462) a share in cash, the companies said in a statement on Friday, confirming an
Unlike human history, when nature repeats itself, there’s usually a good reason. For the white-throated rail (Dryolimnas cuvieri), all it took was a peaceful reef Eden, free from predators and competition. On the remote Aldabra atoll in the Indian Ocean, scientists have discovered that the same species of bird has lost its ability to fly
They say a tree never forgets, and apparently, neither does its resin. For more than ten thousand years, an ancient chewing gum, made from the tar of a birch bark tree, has held the memory of Scandinavia’s first human settlers. Discovered in the 1990s, in a prehistoric hunter-fisher site on the Swedish coast, known as the Huseby
NASA has awarded $45.5m to a range of US companies in its efforts to get back onto the Moon. The agency has tapped 11 companies to help develop a spacecraft that will get to the Moon’s south pole by 2024, as part of the highly ambitious Artemis lunar exploration program. The goal is for the
Fifty years after man’s first steps on the moon, the future of human exploration in the final frontier is at a critical turning point. American leadership in space is more important than ever and, importantly, it remains one of the few issues that transcends the partisan divide. The Trump administration and lawmakers in both parties
Millions of cryptocurrency investors have been scammed out of massive sums of real money. In 2018, losses from cryptocurrency-related crimes amounted to US$1.7 billion. The criminals use both old-fashioned and new-technology tactics to swindle their marks in schemes based on digital currencies exchanged through online databases called blockchains. From researching blockchain, cryptocurrency and cybercrime, I
Peacock spiders are so adorable, they stand a chance to sway the feelings of the most seasoned spider hater. These creatures are tiny – a mere 5 millimetres (0.2 inches). They’re also fluffy, the males have incredibly colourful butts, and they love to dance. Now we’ve discovered these spiders also have an interesting superpower – the
Consider yourself lucky if you’re in a job that you love, but be aware that there’s a potential downside – other people might take advantage of your passion for your work. New research shows that managers often set extra hours without pay, or give out demeaning tasks to employees, to those who are particularly passionate
A lot of electronic dance music has a very characteristic feature: The music gradually builds, and then suddenly changes to a different rhythm, pitch or instrumentation. It feels like the tension of riding up a rollercoaster, just before you go down. Fittingly, this music phenomenon is called the “drop”. The buildup to the drop in
Each batch of 60 Starlink satellites will bring about a terabit of usable broadband capacity, according to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk. Credit: SpaceX WASHINGTON — SpaceX shared details about its largely secretive Starlink constellation program March 15, providing updated targets for commercial service, details about satellite design and the thought process behind why the company’s
After 12 successful seasons, “The Big Bang Theory” has finally come to a fulfilling end, concluding its reign as the longest running multicamera sitcom on TV. If you’re one of the few who haven’t seen the show, this CBS series centers around a group of young scientists defined by essentially every possible stereotype about nerds
Around 620 light-years away from Earth lies KELT-9b – by far the hottest planet we have ever found. It’s so hot that vaporised iron and titanium are scattered throughout its atmosphere, as researchers discovered last year. But it turns out it gets even more intense. Exoplanet scientists have now found a bunch of other vaporised
(Reuters) – A three-year-old filly collapsed and died after racing at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Friday, a day before the Preakness Stakes. FILE PHOTO: May 14, 2019; Baltimore, MD, USA; A general view of the straight away in front of the seating coming out of turn four at Pimlico Race Course. Mandatory Credit:
The next time your friends show you a photo of themselves riding an elephant, you might wince after watching Ashley Bell’s documentary. It’s the story of rescuing Asian elephants from the cruelty they endure to be housed in zoos and “entertainment” in circuses, as well as rides. We see them as “docile due to their
WASHINGTON — A House appropriations subcommittee approved a spending bill May 17 that provides NASA with more than $22.3 billion but largely ignores an administration request for an additional $1.6 billion to support plans for a 2024 human return to the moon. The commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee approved a spending bill for fiscal
A team of scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia has measured for the first time accuracy of two-qubit operations in silicon - a feat that would enable companies build a full-scale quantum processor. Computers today process information in binary bits that take either a 0 or 1 value while quantum computers
In the Chinese science fiction film The Wandering Earth, recently released on Netflix, humanity attempts to change the Earth’s orbit using enormous thrusters in order to escape the expanding Sun – and prevent a collision with Jupiter. The scenario may one day come true. In five billion years, the Sun will run out of fuel
Hurricane Michael was recently reclassified as a Category 5 storm by NOAA. The storm devastated parts of Florida, Georgia and beyond in 2018 with 160 mph winds, storm surge and rainfall. For my home state of Georgia, it was a particularly tragic event with agricultural losses estimated to be in the $2.5 to 3 billion
WASHINGTON — NASA announced May 16 it has selected 11 companies to begin studies and initial prototype development of portions of lunar landers the agency hopes can help it meet its 2024 human landing goal. The awards are part of NASA’s Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) series of broad agency announcements that support
Climate breakdown is already having a massively negative impact on the world’s wildlife, but it seems there are even more ways animals can be harmed by our negligence. Marine biologists have just demonstrated for the first time that low oxygen levels in the water can send marine invertebrates blind. With rising global temperatures already lowering
Unknown to many travellers in southeast Asia, the ‘jars of the dead’ in Laos are a 2,000-year-old mystery that has never been solved. Speckled across thousands of square kilometres of the Xieng Khouang plateau – now known as the ‘Plain of Jars’ for that very reason – these empty megalithic structures from the Iron Age
Using the combined might of two of Hawaii’s powerful telescopes, astronomers have captured what they are describing as “groundbreaking” sharp new images of a planetary system still in the process of being born. They also found no evidence of three previously detected planets. The star is LkCa 15, a young, Sun-like T Tauri star 473
images.wellcome.ac.uk, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8776638″ align=”” width=”940″] The coxpox-infected pus came from the hand of a milkmaid named either Lucy or Sarah Nelmes. Friday marks the 270th birthday of Edward Jenner, the doctor who developed the world’s first vaccine. Born on May 17, 1749, Edward Jenner grew up in Berkeley, in southwest England, and after medical
WASHINGTON — The House Appropriations Committee released a spending bill May 16 that adds more than $1 billion to NASA’s original request but offers little in the way of additional funding for exploration priorities included in the agency’s recent budget amendment. The commerce, justice and science (CJS) appropriation bill, released a day before a markup
When Victor Vescovo’s submarine hit the floor of the Mariana Trench, it sent the sediment swirling. “At bottom,” the Texas businessman-turned-extreme-explorer said into his headset. “Repeat: at bottom”. In a control room more than 35,850 feet (10.9 km) above, Vescovo’s dive team clapped and cheered. Congratulations were in order: they had just set a record.
The world watched avidly earlier this year when NASA spacecraft New Horizons made a historic encounter. It flew past an object called 2014 MU69 – AKA Ultima Thule – the farthest named single object in the Solar System. We know what it looks like. We know it’s a bit of a weirdo. But now scientists
FILE PHOTO: A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket (in center, in a horizontal position), is readied for launch on a supply mission to the International Space Station on historic launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, U.S., February 17, 2017. REUTERS/Joe Skipper/File Photo CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) – A SpaceX launch
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