Today: September 20, 2024
Today: September 20, 2024

Science

Science

US and Canada start the process of determining how the Titanic-bound submersible imploded

Authorities from the U.S. and Canada began the process of investigating the cause of the fatal Titan submersible implosion even as they grappled with questions of who was responsible for determining how the tragedy unfolded. A formal inquiry has not yet been launched because maritime agencies are still busy searching the area where the vessel was destroyed, killing all five people aboard, the U.S. Coast Guard said Friday. Debris was located about 12,500 feet (3,810 meters) underwater, several hundred feet away from the Titanic wreckage it was on its way to explore. The U.S. Coast Guard led the initial search

June 24, 2023
US and Canada start the process of determining how the Titanic-bound submersible imploded
Science

UK village marks struggle against US Army racism in World War II

The village of Bamber Bridge in northwestern England is proud of the blow it struck against racism in the U.S. military during World War II. When an all-Black truck regiment was stationed in the village, residents refused to accept the segregation ingrained in the U.S. Army. Ignoring pressure from British and American authorities, pubs welcomed the GIs, local women chatted and danced with them, and English soldiers drank alongside men they saw as allies in the war against fascism. But simmering tensions between Black soldiers and white military police exploded on June 24, 1943, when

June 24, 2023
UK village marks struggle against US Army racism in World War II
Science

Beijing sizzles under worst heat wave and authorities ask people to stay indoors

Beijing and parts of northern China are experiencing record temperatures, with authorities urging people to limit their time outdoors. The Nanjiao observatory in southern Beijing on Saturday for the first time recorded temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) for a third consecutive day, according to the China Meteorological Administration. In nearby Hebei province and the port city of Tianjin, temperatures have also soared above 40 C over the past few days, prompting authorities to issue “red” alerts for extreme weather. In China’s four-tier weather alert system, the red indicates the most severe conditions. On

June 24, 2023
Beijing sizzles under worst heat wave and authorities ask people to stay indoors
Science

With record heat and drought-stricken woods, Spain’s Catalonia faces perfect wildfire conditions

Surveying the hills covered with near bone-dry pines stretching to the Pyrenees in the distance, Asier Larrañaga has reason to be on guard. This part of northeast Spain is, like large swaths of the Mediterranean country, braced for wildfires due to the lethal combination of a prolonged drought, record-high temperatures and increasingly dense woods unable to adapt to a fast-changing climate. Larrañaga is one of the top fire analysts for the firefighters of Catalonia charged with safeguarding the region’s homes and landscapes. While grateful that some desperately needed rain has finally fallen in recent weeks, he

June 25, 2023
With record heat and drought-stricken woods, Spain’s Catalonia faces perfect wildfire conditions
Science

No more needles? A daily pill may work as well as Wegovy shots to treat obesity

What if treating obesity could be as easy as popping an effective pill? That’s a notion that has long fueled hope for many of the more than 40% of Americans who are considered obese — and fueled criticism by those who advocate for wider weight acceptance. Soon, it may be a reality. High-dose oral versions of the medication in the weight-loss drug Wegovy may work as well as the popular injections when it comes to paring pounds and improving health, according to final results of two studies released Sunday night. The potent tablets also appear to work for people with

June 26, 2023
No more needles? A daily pill may work as well as Wegovy shots to treat obesity
Science

Regulators begin final safety inspection before treated Fukushima wastewater is released into sea

Japanese regulators began a final inspection on Wednesday before treated radioactive wastewater is released from the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean. The inspection began a day after plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings installed the last piece of equipment needed for the release — the outlet of the undersea tunnel dug to discharge the wastewater 1 kilometer (a thousand yards) offshore. TEPCO said the Nuclear Regulation Authority inspectors will examine the equipment related to the treated water discharge and its safety systems during three days of inspections through Friday. The permit for releasing

June 28, 2023
Regulators begin final safety inspection before treated Fukushima wastewater is released into sea
Science

Smoke from Canada wildfires is increasing health risks in Black and poorer US communities

Smoky air from Canada’s wildfires shrouded broad swaths of the U.S. from Minnesota to New York and Kentucky on Wednesday, prompting warnings to stay inside and exacerbating health risks for people already suffering from industrial pollution. The impacts are particularly hard on poor and minority communities that are more likely to live near polluting plants and have higher rates of asthma. Detroit, a mostly Black city with a poverty rate of about 30%, had some of the worst air quality in the U.S. on Wednesday, prompting the Environmental Protection Agency to warn that “everyone should stay indoors.”

June 28, 2023
Smoke from Canada wildfires is increasing health risks in Black and poorer US communities
Science

Scientists have finally 'heard' the chorus of gravitational waves that ripple through the universe

Scientists have observed for the first time the faint ripples caused by the motion of black holes that are gently stretching and squeezing everything in the universe. They reported Wednesday that they were able to “hear” what are called low-frequency gravitational waves — changes in the fabric of the universe that are created by huge objects moving around and colliding in space. “It’s really the first time that we have evidence of just this large-scale motion of everything in the universe,” said Maura McLaughlin, co-director of NANOGrav, the research collaboration that published the results in The

June 29, 2023
Scientists have finally 'heard' the chorus of gravitational waves that ripple through the universe
Science

Expect a hot, smoky summer in much of America. Here's why you'd better get used to it

The only break much of America can hope for anytime soon from eye-watering dangerous smoke from fire-struck Canada is brief bouts of shirt-soaking sweltering heat and humidity from a southern heat wave that has already proven deadly, forecasters say. And then the smoke will likely come back to the Midwest and East. That’s because neither the 235 out-of-control Canadian wildfires nor the stuck weather pattern that’s responsible for this mess of meteorological maladies are showing signs of relenting for the next week or longer, according to meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Weather Prediction Center. First, the stuck

June 29, 2023
Expect a hot, smoky summer in much of America. Here's why you'd better get used to it
Science

How's the weather up there? It'll be harder for Alaska to tell as a longtime program goes off air

Before Morris Nashoanak heads out for days in search of bearded seals, beluga whales or salmon, he catches the weather on TV. But it’s not the weather segment from a local TV station — there isn’t one. Instead, it’s a program designed for those living in rural and largely roadless Alaska, with separate forecasts for mariners, aviators and residents to help decide whether they can safely hunt, fish or fly. “Alaska Weather” has been must-see TV for 47 years in a state where extreme weather dictates everyday life. But the daily program, the only weather show

June 29, 2023
How's the weather up there? It'll be harder for Alaska to tell as a longtime program goes off air
Science

Central US is now getting worst of the drought. Corn crops are stressed, rivers are running low

Mike Shane’s Illinois farm got a nice soaking on May 8, shortly after he planted his corn crop. Since then, rain has been hard to come by. Plenty of storms have ventured close only to fizzle out before making it to Shane’s 200-acre spread near Peoria. “It comes across the Mississippi River and then just disappears,” Shane, 47, said. “My corn looks absolutely terrible right now.” Without substantial rain soon, “I just don’t see any hope for it,” he said. Heavy rain over the winter eased the drought in the West, but now the middle of

June 29, 2023
Central US is now getting worst of the drought. Corn crops are stressed, rivers are running low
Science

A California scholar's research into a flowering shrub took him to Mexico and a violent death

For four years, Gabriel Trujillo trekked the breadth of the United States and south into Mexico in search of a flowering shrub called the common buttonbush. The plant is native to the varied climates of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Trujillo, a 31-year-old Ph.D. student at the University of California, Berkeley, wanted to know why it thrived in such a range of places, and whether the evolution of the species held possibilities for future habitat conservation and restoration efforts. The research was tragically cut short last week in Mexico, where Trujillo’s father said he was shot

June 30, 2023
A California scholar's research into a flowering shrub took him to Mexico and a violent death
Science

UN nuclear agency chief to visit Fukushima plant to see final preparations for release of wastewater

The chief of the U.N. nuclear agency will visit Japan next week to meet with Japanese leaders and see final preparations for the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the damaged Fukushima nuclear plant into the Pacific Ocean, officials said Friday. Japan’s government hopes the visit by International Atomic Energy Agency head Rafael Mariano Grossi will add credibility to the discharge plan. It has been strongly opposed by local fishing groups and by neighboring South Korea, China and some Pacific Island nations over safety concerns. Grossi will visit Japan July 4-7, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said. He

June 30, 2023
UN nuclear agency chief to visit Fukushima plant to see final preparations for release of wastewater
Science

Saturn's rings are glowing in Webb Space Telescope's latest cosmic shot

Saturn has a fresh new look thanks to NASA’s Webb Space Telescope. The gas giant is dark in the latest photo by Webb, released Friday, but its rings are glowing. Webb snapped the picture in the infrared last weekend. At this wavelength, the planet appears dark because sunlight is absorbed by methane in the atmosphere. But the icy rings remain bright. Three of Saturn’s many moons also got caught on camera. Scientists are thrilled with this latest shot, which captures Saturn’s atmosphere in detail. They hope to uncover new ring structures as well as any

June 30, 2023
Saturn's rings are glowing in Webb Space Telescope's latest cosmic shot
Science

Hungry ticks can use this static trick to land on you and your pets

Hungry ticks have some slick tricks. They can zoom through the air using static electricity to latch onto people, pets and other animals, new research shows. Humans and animals naturally pick up static charges as they go about their days. And those charges are enough to give ticks a boost to their next blood meal, according to a study published Friday in the journal Current Biology. While the distance is tiny, “it’s the equivalent of us jumping three or four flights of stairs in one go,” said study author Sam England, an ecologist now at Berlin’s

June 30, 2023
Hungry ticks can use this static trick to land on you and your pets
Science

Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse. Scientists call it the 'new abnormal'

It was a smell that invoked a memory. Both for Emily Kuchlbauer in North Carolina and Ryan Bomba in Chicago. It was smoke from wildfires, the odor of an increasingly hot and occasionally on-fire world. Kuchlbauer had flashbacks to the surprise of soot coating her car three years ago when she was a recent college graduate in San Diego. Bomba had deja vu from San Francisco, where the air was so thick with smoke people had to mask up. They figured they left wildfire worries behind in California, but a Canada that’s burning from sea to warming sea brought one

July 01, 2023
Climate change keeps making wildfires and smoke worse. Scientists call it the 'new abnormal'
Science

European telescope launched to hunt for clues to universe's darkest secrets

A European space telescope blasted off Saturday on a quest to explore the mysterious and invisible realm known as the dark universe. SpaceX launched the European Space Agency’s Euclid observatory toward its ultimate destination 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) away, the Webb Space Telescope’s neighborhood. It will take a month to get there and another two months before it starts its ambitious six-year survey this fall. Named for antiquity’s Greek mathematician, Euclid will scour billions of galaxies covering more than one-third of the sky. By pinpointing the location and shape of galaxies up to

July 01, 2023
European telescope launched to hunt for clues to universe's darkest secrets
Science

IAEA chief will visit Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear plant before radioactive water is released

The U.N. nuclear chief is to visit Japan’s tsunami-wrecked nuclear power plant Wednesday after the agency affirmed the safety of a contentious plan to release treated radioactive water into the sea. On his way to the Fukushima Daiichi plant, a highlight of his four-day Japan visit, International Atomic Energy Agency chief Rafael Mariano Grossi will join government and utility officials to hear the concerns of mayors and fishing association leaders and to assure them of the plan’s safety. The IAEA, in its final report released Tuesday, concluded the plan to release the wastewater — which would be

July 05, 2023
IAEA chief will visit Japan's tsunami-wrecked nuclear plant before radioactive water is released
Science

Mayor Suarez launches an artificial intelligence chatbot for his presidential campaign

A super PAC supporting Miami Mayor Francis Suarez ‘s run for the Republican presidential nomination has launched an artificial intelligence chatbot to answer questions about him, marking yet another example of how generative AI tools are being used in 2024 presidential campaigns. The bot unveiled Wednesday by SOS America PAC listens to a user’s questions and matches them to video answers, created with an AI-powered avatar made to look and sound like Suarez. “Hi, I’m AI Francis Suarez,” the bot says to introduce itself, its mouth moving in a way that’s not quite human. “You’ve probably

July 05, 2023
Mayor Suarez launches an artificial intelligence chatbot for his presidential campaign
Science

Beijing orders outdoor work to be halted as scorching summer heat soars

Employers in Beijing were ordered Thursday by the government to stop outdoor work after scorching summer heat in the Chinese capital was forecast to reach 40 degrees centigrade (104 Fahrenheit). Government departments were ordered to ensure the elderly and ill could stay cool after the city of 22 million people issued a “red alert,” the highest level of a warning system for extreme temperatures. The government reported on Monday that Beijing recorded 10 days of temperatures above 35 C (95 F), the longest streak of its kind since 1961. “Relevant departments and units shall take emergency measures

July 06, 2023
Beijing orders outdoor work to be halted as scorching summer heat soars
Science

For third day, it was the hottest day on Earth, as global temperature matches record set Tuesday

Earth’s average temperature remained at a record high Wednesday, after two days in which the planet reached unofficial records. It’s the latest marker in a series of climate-change-driven extremes. The average global temperature was 17.18 Celsius (62.9 degrees Fahrenheit), according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition. That matched a record set Tuesday of 17.18 Celsius (62.9 Fahrenheit), and came after a previous record of 17.01 Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit) was set Monday. Scientists have warned for months that 2023 could see record heat as human-caused

July 06, 2023
For third day, it was the hottest day on Earth, as global temperature matches record set Tuesday
Science

Lavish tomb in ancient Spain belonged to a woman, not a man, new research shows

When archaeologists first discovered the 5,000-year-old ornate tomb in Spain, they assumed it was for a man. It held a rock crystal dagger, ivory tusks and other lavish items. But now they’ve determined the remains are those of a woman, and all it took was two teeth. The researchers used a new method of determining sex that analyzes tooth enamel. This technique, developed about five years ago, is more reliable than analyzing skeletal remains in poor condition, according to their study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports. Most details about the life of the “Ivory Lady,”

July 06, 2023
Lavish tomb in ancient Spain belonged to a woman, not a man, new research shows
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

July 06, 2023
California Science Center to start complex process to display space shuttle Endeavour vertically
Science

In Lula's first six months, Brazil Amazon deforestation dropped 34%, reversing trend under Bolsonaro

After four years of rising destruction in Brazil’s Amazon, deforestation dropped by 33.6% during the first six months of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s term, according to government satellite data released Thursday. From January to June the rainforest had alerts covering 2,650 square kilometers (1,023 square miles), down from 4,000 square kilometers — an area the size of Rhode Island — during the same period last year under former President Jair Bolsonaro. This year’s data includes a 41% plunge in alerts for June, which marks the start of the dry season when deforestation tends

July 06, 2023
In Lula's first six months, Brazil Amazon deforestation dropped 34%, reversing trend under Bolsonaro
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

July 07, 2023
For the third time this week, Earth sets a heat record

Follow