Today: October 12, 2024
Today: October 12, 2024

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Science

Here's how geothermal energy heats and cools a home

Some homeowners looking to switch out their heating and cooling systems are turning to home geothermal — also known as ground source — heat pumps. It’s a technology that relies on a simple physical fact: Dig several feet below Earth’s surface, in the coldest winter or the hottest summer, and the temperature will be around 55 degrees. Geothermal takes advantage of that constant temperature by pushing water with some antifreeze through a loop of flexible pipe that runs deep underground. The water gets circulated by a heat pump system, usually located in the basement. When the house needs cooling —

Here's how geothermal energy heats and cools a home
Science

Climate talks chief, who also heads oil company, says world must 'attack all emissions, everywhere'

The head of this year’s United Nations’ climate talks called Thursday for governments and businesses to tackle global warming by reducing greenhouse gas emissions in all regions and sectors if they want to stop the planet from passing a key temperature limit agreed on more than seven years ago. Sultan al-Jaber of the United Arab Emirates, who also heads one of the country’s state oil companies, told senior officials from Europe, Canada and China gathered in Brussels that record-breaking heat seen in parts of the world recently shows the need for urgent action to curb emissions. Laying

Climate talks chief, who also heads oil company, says world must 'attack all emissions, everywhere'
Science

Webb Space Telescope reveals moment of stellar birth, dramatic close-up of 50 baby stars

The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth. NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. The region is relatively quiet yet full of illuminated gases, jets of hydrogen and even dense cocoons of dust with the delicate beginnings of even more stars. “Prepare to be awestruck!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson tweeted, noting that the image “presents star birth as an impressionistic masterpiece.” “One year

Webb Space Telescope reveals moment of stellar birth, dramatic close-up of 50 baby stars
Science

European Union lawmakers back a major bill to protect nature and fight climate change

The European Union’s parliament on Wednesday approved in a cliffhanger vote a major bill to protect nature and fight climate change. In a test of the EU’s global climate credentials, the legislature supported the European Commission plan in a razor-thin 324-312 vote with 12 abstentions.

European Union lawmakers back a major bill to protect nature and fight climate change
Science

Kerry to visit Beijing for climate talks amid efforts to revive relations between US and China

U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will travel to Beijing next week to discuss strategies for limiting global warming, amid a push by the world’s two largest economies to reengage on multiple issues following a sharp decline in contacts. Kerry’s office said he will arrive Sunday and depart July 19. He is due to meet with his counterpart Xie Zhenhua, with whom he has established a strong working relationship. “During meetings with PRC officials, Secretary Kerry aims to engage with the PRC on addressing the climate crisis, including with respect to increasing implementation and ambition

Kerry to visit Beijing for climate talks amid efforts to revive relations between US and China
Science

Pendants made from giant sloths suggest earlier arrival of people in the Americas

New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought. Scientists analyzed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship. Dating of the ornaments and sediment at the Brazil site where they were found point to an age of 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, the researchers reported. That’s several thousand years before some earlier theories had suggested the first people arrived

Pendants made from giant sloths suggest earlier arrival of people in the Americas
Science

Things to know about a landslide that has destroyed homes in Southern California

A landslide is destroying a cluster of hilltop homes in a gated Southern California community and poses a threat to others. Here are some things to know: WHAT HAPPENED? Los Angeles County firefighters responding to a report in the city of Rolling Hills Estates on Saturday discovered cracks in buildings and on the ground. Twelve homes on Peartree Lane were red-tagged as unsafe and residents had just 20 minutes to get out. Ten of the homes began sliding down into a canyon. Walls and decks ripped apart. Neat tile roofs shattered as they pancaked

Things to know about a landslide that has destroyed homes in Southern California
Science

Scientists now say a new epoch – the Anthropocene, marked by human impact on Earth – began in 1950s

Humanity has etched its way into Earth’s geology, atmosphere and biology with such strength and permanence, a special team of scientists figures we have shifted into a new geologic epoch, one of our own creation. It’s called the Anthropocene. A geologic task force is recommending to mark this new epoch’s start in the small but deep, pristine Crawford Lake outside Toronto, Canada with a ‘golden spike’. The start of the human epoch is sometime around 1950 to 1954. The specific date will be determined soon, probably by levels of plutonium in new measurements from the bottom of the special lake

Scientists now say a new epoch – the Anthropocene, marked by human impact on Earth – began in 1950s
Science

Fossilized skeletons of aerial and aquatic predators to be auctioned by Sotheby's

The fossilized skeletons of an aerial predator with a 20-foot (6-meter) wingspan and an aquatic reptile with a snake-like neck will be auctioned in New York this month, Sotheby’s announced Tuesday. The two creatures, both tens of millions of years old, will be sold July 26 in the latest sale of prehistoric fossils from the auction house that launched a new era of fossil auctions by selling a Tyrannosaurus rex named Sue in 1997. “More than 25 years since the groundbreaking sale of Sue the T. rex at Sotheby’s, we are very excited to now turn

Fossilized skeletons of aerial and aquatic predators to be auctioned by Sotheby's
Science

Jewelry, ornate pottery show 3,000-year-old Cypriot city was a key trading hub, scientist says

New discoveries including gold ornaments and fine pottery at an ancient port city in Cyprus dating back more than 3,000 years indicate that the settlement was one of the Mediterranean’s most important trading posts in the late Bronze Age, an archeologist said Tuesday. Professor Peter M. Fischer from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, said the city now known as Hala Sultan Tekke because of its proximity to a famous mosque flourished in 1,630-1,150 B.C. because of its trade in the “most sought after product at that time” -– plentiful copper mined from the Troodos mountain range.

Jewelry, ornate pottery show 3,000-year-old Cypriot city was a key trading hub, scientist says
Science

Panda twins born in South Korea for the 1st time

A giant panda has given birth to twin cubs at a theme park in South Korea. Ai Bao gave birth to the cubs, both female, last Friday at the Everland theme park near Seoul, the park’s operator, Samsung C&T resort group, said in a statement Tuesday. It’s the first time that panda twins have been born in South Korea, the resort group said. Both Ai Bao and her newborns are in good health, it said. Decades of conservation efforts in the wild and study in captivity saved the giant panda species from extinction, increasing its

Panda twins born in South Korea for the 1st time
Science

EU faces cliffhanger vote on major bill protecting nature and fighting climate change

Protesters and legislators converged on the European Union parliament Tuesday as the bloc faces a major vote on protecting its threatened nature and shielding it from disruptive environmental change, in a test of the EU’s global climate credentials. Spurred on by climate activist Greta Thunberg, hundreds of demonstrators were set to demand that the EU pushes through a bill to beef up the restoration of nature in the 27-nation bloc that was damaged during decades of industrial expansion. Inside the legislature in Strasbourg, France, parliamentarians were bracing ahead of Wednesday’s vote for a brutal debate over whether

EU faces cliffhanger vote on major bill protecting nature and fighting climate change
Science

Search for children's remains continues at former Native American boarding school in Nebraska

Amid a renewed push for answers, archeologists planned to resume digging Tuesday at the remote site of a former Native American boarding school in central Nebraska, searching for the remains of children who died there decades ago. The search for a hidden cemetery near the former Genoa Indian Industrial School in Nebraska gained renewed interest after the discovery of hundreds of children’s remains at Native American boarding school sites in the U.S. and Canada since 2021, said Dave Williams, the state’s archeologist who’s digging at the site with teammates this week. The team hadn’t found any

Search for children's remains continues at former Native American boarding school in Nebraska
Science

How extreme heat takes a toll on the mind and body, according to experts

The Southwestern U.S. is bracing for another week of blistering temperatures, with forecasters on Monday extending an excessive heat warning through the weekend for Arizona’s most populated area, and alerting residents in parts of Nevada and New Mexico to stay indoors. The metro Phoenix area is on track to tie or to break a record set in the summer of 1974 for the most consecutive days with the high temperature at or above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43 Celsius). Even the morning low temperatures are tying historic records, with the airport logging 91 F (32.8 C) to

How extreme heat takes a toll on the mind and body, according to experts
Science

Webb Space Telescope spots most distant black hole yet. More may be lurking

Astronomers have discovered the most distant black hole yet using the Webb Space Telescope, but that record isn’t expected to last. The black hole is at the center of a galaxy dating to within a mere 570 million years of the Big Bang. That’s 100 million years closer to the beginning of the cosmos than a black hole observed in 2021 with a telescope in Chile led by a Chinese team. Webb already has spotted other black holes that appear to be even closer to the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago, but those

Webb Space Telescope spots most distant black hole yet. More may be lurking
Science

Deadly flooding hits several countries, scientists said this will be increasingly common

Schools in New Delhi had to close Monday after heavy monsoon rains battered the Indian capital. Landslides and flash floods killed at least 15 people over the last three days. Further north, the overflowing Beas River swept vehicles downstream as it flooded neighborhoods. In Japan, torrential rain pounded the southwest, causing floods and mudslides that left two people dead and at least six others missing Monday. Local TV showed damaged houses in Fukuoka prefecture and muddy water from the swollen Yamakuni River appearing to threaten a bridge in the town of Yabakei. In Ulster County, in New York’s Hudson Valley

Deadly flooding hits several countries, scientists said this will be increasingly common
Science

Japan defends neutrality of IAEA report on Fukushima water release plan as minister visits plant

Japan’s industry minister visited the tsunami-wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant on Monday to see equipment that would be used in the planned release into the sea of treated radioactive water to ensure the safety of the controversial plan, while demonstrators, including many from South Korea, rallied against it. The Japanese government defended the neutrality of the United Nations nuclear agency’s final report that concluded Japan’s water release plan met international safety standards, denying allegations that Japan pressured the International Atomic Energy Agency into publishing only favorable results. Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura visited the Fukushima Daiichi

Japan defends neutrality of IAEA report on Fukushima water release plan as minister visits plant
Science

Chinese employers ordered to limit outdoor work as country struggles with heat, flooding and drought

Rescuers were looking Monday for seven people missing in a landslide triggered by torrential rains while employers across much of China were ordered to limit outdoor work due to scorching temperatures as the country struggled with heat, flooding and drought. Rescuers were looking for survivors of a landslide Saturday that buried a highway construction site and killed at least one person in the central city of Yichang in Hubei province. Five people were injured, the official Xinhua News Agency reported, citing the executive deputy mayor of Yichang, Ye Yang. Elsewhere, the weather agency issued an orange alert,

Chinese employers ordered to limit outdoor work as country struggles with heat, flooding and drought
Science

In search of a lost cemetery, dig begins at a former Native American school in Nebraska

Bodies of dozens of children who died at a Native American boarding school have been lost for decades, a mystery that archeologists aim to unravel as they begin digging in a central Nebraska field that a century ago was part of the sprawling campus. Crews toting shovels, trowels and even smaller tools planned to start searching Monday at the site experts suspect is the Genoa Indian Industrial School cemetery. Genoa was part of a national system of more than 400 Native American boarding schools that attempted to integrate Indigenous people into white culture by separating children from their families and

In search of a lost cemetery, dig begins at a former Native American school in Nebraska
Science

South Korean lawmakers berate IAEA chief over Japanese plans to release treated Fukushima wastewater

South Korean opposition lawmakers sharply criticized the head of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog for its approval of Japanese plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant during a tense meeting in Seoul on Sunday, with protesters screaming outside the door. Rafael Mariano Grossi, the International Atomic Energy Agency’s director general, arrived in South Korea over the weekend to engage with government officials and critics and help reduce public concerns about food safety. The planned release of the Fukushima plant’s treated wastewater emerged as a major political issue in South Korea

South Korean lawmakers berate IAEA chief over Japanese plans to release treated Fukushima wastewater
Science

9 missing in China landslide sparked by heavy rains amid flooding and searing temperatures

Nine people are missing in central China after a landslide sparked by heavy rains amid flooding and searing temperatures across much of the country, authorities said Sunday. Five people were rescued from under the rubble at a highway construction site in the central province of Hubei, where the accident occurred on Saturday. Crews were still excavating in hopes of finding more survivors. Tens of thousands of people have been moved to shelters amid heavy flooding in northern, central and southeastern China. Seasonal flooding is a regular occurrence in China, but this year’s rising waters have been accompanied

9 missing in China landslide sparked by heavy rains amid flooding and searing temperatures
Science

South Koreans protest Japan's plans to release treated wastewater from damaged Fukushima plant

Hundreds of people marched in South Korea’s capital on Saturday demanding Japan scrap its plans to release treated wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant, as the head of the U.N. nuclear agency met with senior officials to discuss public concerns over foods safety. The protests came a day after South Korea’s government formally endorsed the safety of the Japanese plans, saying that the contamination levels of water pumped out from the plant would be within acceptable standards and wouldn’t meaningfully affect South Korean seas as long as the plant’s treatment systems work as

South Koreans protest Japan's plans to release treated wastewater from damaged Fukushima plant
Science

Harassment of TV meteorologists reflects broader anti-science, anti-media trends

The harassment started to intensify as TV meteorologist Chris Gloninger did more reporting on climate change during local newscasts — outraged emails and even a threat to show up at his house. Gloninger said he had been recruited, in part, to “shake things up” at the Iowa station where he worked, but backlash was building. The man who sent him a series of threatening emails was charged with third-degree harassment. The Des Moines station asked him to dial back his coverage, facing what he called an understandable pressure to maintain ratings. “I started just connecting

Harassment of TV meteorologists reflects broader anti-science, anti-media trends
Science

For the third time this week, Earth sets a heat record

Earth’s average temperature set a new unofficial record high on Thursday, the third such milestone in a week that already rated as the hottest on record. The planetary average hit 63 degrees Fahrenheit, 17.23 degrees Celsius, surpassing the 62.9 and 17.18-degree marks set Tuesday and equaled Wednesday, according to data from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition. That average includes places that are sweltering under dangerous heat — like Jingxing, China, which checked in almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius) — and the merely unusually

For the third time this week, Earth sets a heat record
Science

California Science Center to start complex process to display space shuttle Endeavour vertically

The lengthy process of putting the retired space shuttle Endeavour on display in the vertical launch position will begin this month in Los Angeles. The California Science Center announced Thursday that the six-month process will get underway July 20 at the future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center currently under construction in Exposition Park. The initial step, dubbed “Go for Stack,” will be installation of the bottom portion of the solid rocket boosters known as aft skirts upon which will be stacked the booster segments, the external tank and then Endeavour. The 20-story tall display will

California Science Center to start complex process to display space shuttle Endeavour vertically

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