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

Science

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

July 13, 2023
Climate talks chief, who also heads oil company, says world must 'attack all emissions, everywhere'
Science

Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house

Summers are famously humid in New York State, but life in the Maioli household has gotten more comfortable since the couple installed a new heating and cooling system — one that isn’t well known yet in the U.S. “My wife is pretty happy because in the summer we can keep it to as cold as we like,” typically 69 or 70 F, said Joe Maioli, in Ontario, New York. In 2021, the couple installed a geothermal or ground source heat pump. The units you see that look like box fans outside homes and businesses are the more common air-source heat

July 13, 2023
Little-known but efficient, a different way to heat and cool your house
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 —

July 13, 2023
Here's how geothermal energy heats and cools a home
Science

In ‘Oppenheimer,’ Christopher Nolan builds a thrilling, serious blockbuster for adults

Christopher Nolan has never been one to take the easy or straightforward route while making a movie. He shoots on large-format film with large, cumbersome cameras to get the best possible cinematic image. He prefers practical effects over computer-generated ones and real locations over soundstages — even when that means recreating an atomic explosion in the harsh winds of the New Mexico desert in the middle of the night for “Oppenheimer,” out July 21. Though, despite internet rumors, they did not detonate an actual nuclear weapon. And as for the biography that inspired his newest film,

July 13, 2023
In ‘Oppenheimer,’ Christopher Nolan builds a thrilling, serious blockbuster for adults
Science

In 'Oppenheimer,' Cillian Murphy finally gets to lead a Christopher Nolan film

The day Christopher Nolan called Cillian Murphy about his new film, “Oppenheimer,” Murphy hung up the phone in disbelief. The Irish actor, though a regular presence in Nolan films going back almost two decades, had always been a supporting player. This time, Nolan wanted him to lead. “He’s so understated and self-deprecating and, in his very English manner, just said, ‘Listen, I’ve written this script, it’s about Oppenheimer. I’d like you to be my Oppenheimer,’” Murphy, 46, told The Associated Press earlier this year. “It was a great day.” For Murphy, it is never not exciting to get a call

July 13, 2023
In 'Oppenheimer,' Cillian Murphy finally gets to lead a Christopher Nolan film
Science

Virgin Galactic plans its next commercial flight to the edge of space for August

Virgin Galactic is aiming for early August for its next flight to the edge of space, a trip that is expected to include the first of many ticket holders who have been waiting years for their chance at weightlessness aboard the company’s rocket-powered plane. The company announced Thursday that the window for the commercial flight from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico will open Aug. 10. The short up-and-down flight will be streamed live on Virgin Galactic’s website. Virgin Galactic confirmed that three private passengers will be on the flight. The plane has room for six

July 13, 2023
Virgin Galactic plans its next commercial flight to the edge of space for August
Science

Meteorologists say Earth sizzled to a global heat record in June and July has been getting hotter

An already warming Earth steamed to its hottest June on record, smashing the old global mark by nearly a quarter of a degree (0.13 degrees Celsius), with global oceans setting temperature records for the third straight month, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Thursday. June’s 61.79 degrees (16.55 degrees Celsius) global average was 1.89 degrees (1.05 degrees Celsius) above the 20th Century average, the first time globally a summer month was more than a degree Celsius hotter than normal, according to NOAA. Other weather monitoring systems, such as NASA, Berkeley Earth and Europe’s Copernicus, had already called last

July 13, 2023
Meteorologists say Earth sizzled to a global heat record in June and July has been getting hotter
Science

India is set to launch a lander and rover to explore the moon’s south pole

India was set to send a spacecraft to the far side of the moon Friday in a follow-up mission to its failed effort nearly four years ago to land a rover softly on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-3, the word for “moon craft” in Sanskrit, will take off from a launch pad in Sriharikota in southern India with an orbiter, a lander and a rover. It will embark on a journey lasting slightly over a month before landing on the moon’s surface later in August. A successful landing would make India the fourth country — after the

July 14, 2023
India is set to launch a lander and rover to explore the moon’s south pole
Science

China accuses US of militarizing space following protest over Navy plane's Taiwan Strait transit

Amid a freeze in military-to-military contacts, China is accusing the United States of militarizing outer space, a day after it protested the passage of a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft through the Taiwan Strait. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei said on Friday that U.S. actions, including the establishment of the Space Force in 2019 as the newest branch of the military, have “had a great negative impact on space security and global strategic stability.” “In recent years, the United States has accelerated the militarization of space,” Tan said. “I would like to reiterate here

July 14, 2023
China accuses US of militarizing space following protest over Navy plane's Taiwan Strait transit
Science

Alaska volcano spews ash cloud high enough to draw weather service warning for pilots

An erupting volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands sent a towering cloud of ash into the air Friday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue an inflight warning to pilots. The Shishaldin Volcano began erupting July 11, according to the Alaska Volcano Observatory. A U.S. Coast Guard overflight confirmed lava erupted the same day within the summit crater. A significant explosion at 1:09 a.m. Friday produced an ash cloud that reached up to 40,000 feet (12,192 meters) and drifted south over the Pacific Ocean. A second smaller explosion at 7:10 a.m. Friday reached about 15,000 feet (4,572

July 15, 2023
Alaska volcano spews ash cloud high enough to draw weather service warning for pilots
Science

Dozens of cats in Poland had bird flu but the risk to people is low, the UN health agency says

The World Health Organization said more than two dozen cats have been infected with bird flu across Poland, but no people appeared to have been sickened. In a statement on Monday, the U.N. health agency said it was the first time so many cats had been reported to have bird flu over such a wide geographical area in a single country, amid an unprecedented global outbreak of the latest version of the H5N1 version of the disease. WHO said that late last month, Polish authorities informed agency officials of the unusual deaths of more than 45 cats

July 17, 2023
Dozens of cats in Poland had bird flu but the risk to people is low, the UN health agency says
Science

Pod of 55 pilot whales die after being stranded on a beach in Scotland

A pod of 55 pilot whales have died after they were found washed ashore on a beach in Scotland in the worst mass whale stranding in the area, marine experts said Monday. Marine rescuers, the coast guard and police were called to Traigh Mhor beach on the Isle of Lewis in northwest Scotland after receiving reports that dozens of the mammals were in difficulty there early Sunday. The British Divers Marine Life Rescue found that only 15 of the whales — a mixture of adults and calves — were still alive, and attempted to refloat two of

July 17, 2023
Pod of 55 pilot whales die after being stranded on a beach in Scotland
Science

Unhealthy air quality lingers across parts of U.S. from drifting Canadian wildfire smoke

For Chicagoans planning a lengthy outdoor run Monday, “today is not necessarily the day for that,” according to Kim Biggs of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Extensive swaths of the northern United States awoke to unhealthy air quality Monday morning or were experiencing it by midafternoon, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow.gov Smoke and Fire map. Fine particle pollution caused by smoke from Canada’s wildfires is causing a red zone air quality index, meaning it is unhealthy for everyone. The particles, known as PM2.5, are tiny enough to get deep into the lungs and cause short-term

July 17, 2023
Unhealthy air quality lingers across parts of U.S. from drifting Canadian wildfire smoke
Science

Phoenix's long simmering heat poised to break records for relentless high temperatures

A relentless streak of temperatures hitting 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 C) or more in Phoenix is poised to smash a record for major U.S. cities, showing that Earth’s ongoing summer swelter is as persistent as it is hot. The stretch of dangerous heat tied the record Monday and is set to reach 19 days on Tuesday. Nighttime has offered little relief from the brutal temperatures. Phoenix’s low of 95 F (35 C) on Monday was its highest overnight low ever, smashing the previous record of 93 F (33.8 C) set in 2009. It was the eighth straight

July 18, 2023
Phoenix's long simmering heat poised to break records for relentless high temperatures
Science

Archaeologists in Louisiana save artifacts dating back 12,000 years from natural disasters, looters

Long buried under the woods of west central Louisiana, stone tools, spearpoints and other evidence of people living in the area as long as 12,000 years ago have become more exposed and vulnerable, due to hurricanes, flooding and looters. This summer, archaeologists have been gingerly digging up the ground at the Vernon Parish site in the Kisatchie National Forest. They have been sifting through dirt to unearth and preserve the evidence of prehistoric occupation of the area. “The site appears to have been continuously occupied throughout prehistory, as evidenced by a wide range of stone

July 18, 2023
Archaeologists in Louisiana save artifacts dating back 12,000 years from natural disasters, looters
Science

Mammals may have hunted down dinosaurs for dinner, rare fossil suggests

An unusual find in China suggests some early mammals may have hunted dinosaur for dinner. The fossil shows a badgerlike creature chomping down on a small, beaked dinosaur, their skeletons intertwined. The find comes from a site known as “China’s Pompeii,” where mud and debris from long-ago volcanoes buried creatures in their tracks. “It does seem like this is a prehistoric hunt, captured in stone, like a freeze frame,” University of Edinburgh paleontologist Steve Brusatte, who was not involved with the study, said in an email. The fossil, described Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports, shows

July 18, 2023
Mammals may have hunted down dinosaurs for dinner, rare fossil suggests
Science

Alaska volcano's week-long eruption spews another massive ash cloud

An ongoing eruption of a remote volcano in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands produced an ash cloud so large Tuesday warnings were sent to pilots about potentially dangerous conditions. The ash cloud with an initial height of around 5.5 miles (8.9 kilometers) was drifting south-southeast from Shishaldin Volcano, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said in a statement. The eruption was described as moderate with ashfall drifting toward the Pacific Ocean, creating a potential concern for air traffic or boats, said Matt Loewen, a research geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey at the observatory. The volcano is about 700 miles

July 18, 2023
Alaska volcano's week-long eruption spews another massive ash cloud
Science

Bison attack visitors in North Dakota and Wyoming national parks

A bison severely injured a Minnesota woman on Saturday in Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the National Park Service said in a statement on Tuesday. Park officials reported she was in serious but stable condition after suffering “significant injuries to her abdomen and foot.” The woman was taken to a Fargo hospital after being transported by ambulance to a hospital in Dickinson, about 30 miles (48.28 kilometers) east of Painted Canyon, a colorful Badlands vista popular with motorists, where she was injured at a trailhead. The attack is under investigation; exact details are unknown. Park Superintendent Angie

July 18, 2023
Bison attack visitors in North Dakota and Wyoming national parks
Science

'Oppenheimer' stirs up conflicted history for Los Alamos and New Mexico downwinders

The movie about a man who changed the course of the world’s history by shepherding the development of the first atomic bomb is expected to be a blockbuster, dramatic and full of suspense. On the sidelines will be a community downwind from the testing site in the southern New Mexico desert, the impacts of which the U.S. government never has fully acknowledged. The movie on the life of scientist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the top-secret work of the Manhattan Project sheds no light on those residents’ pain. “They’ll never reflect on the fact that New

July 19, 2023
'Oppenheimer' stirs up conflicted history for Los Alamos and New Mexico downwinders
Science

Two planets sharing same orbit around their star? Astronomers find strongest evidence yet

Astronomers reported Wednesday the discovery of what could be two planets sharing the same orbit around their star. They said it’s the strongest evidence yet of this bizarre cosmic pairing, long suspected but never proven. Using a telescope in Chile, the Spanish-led team spotted a cloud of debris in the same orbit as an already confirmed planet circling this star, 370 light-years away in the constellation Centaurus. They suspect it’s either a planet in formation or remnants of a planet that once was. Asteroids are known to accompany planets around their star — for example,

July 19, 2023
Two planets sharing same orbit around their star? Astronomers find strongest evidence yet
Science

11 mustangs die in US roundup in Nevada caught on video, showing horses with broken necks

Nearly a dozen wild horses have died in the first 10 days of a big mustang roundup in Nevada, deaths that a Las Vegas congresswoman is calling tragic proof of the urgent need to outlaw helicopters to capture the animals on federal land. The 11 deaths so far include five young foals, four horses with broken necks and a stallion with a snapped rear leg that was chased by a helicopter and horseback rider as it tried to flee on three legs for 35 minutes before it was euthanized, according to witnesses. The horse that broke

July 19, 2023
11 mustangs die in US roundup in Nevada caught on video, showing horses with broken necks
Science

CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Here's what you need to see and know today

A landslide triggered by torrential rains in India’s western Maharashtra state killed at least 10 people, with many others feared trapped under piles of debris, officials said Thursday. In this image captured by Associated Press photographer Rafiq Maqbool, a woman holds the hand of her relative as family members of people trapped under rubble wail after a landslide washed away houses. In Greece, a huge fire was contained west of Athens, but authorities braced Thursday for a new round of extreme weather. Searing heat across Europe’s Mediterranean south has maintained a high or very high risk of fires in Spain,

July 20, 2023
CLIMATE GLIMPSE: Here's what you need to see and know today
Science

Exclusion of race in federal climate justice screening tool could worsen disparities, analysis says

A screening tool the federal government is using to decide which neighborhoods have a disproportionate amount of pollution and risk of damage from climate change could worsen air pollution exposure disparities along racial lines, according to a new analysis. Researchers from several universities around the United States who modeled the potential effects of the use of the tool in guiding federal investment told The Associated Press it’s because race was excluded as a part of the equation that decides which communities are the most in need. The analysis they did, which was published in Science on Thursday, brings important context

July 20, 2023
Exclusion of race in federal climate justice screening tool could worsen disparities, analysis says
Science

In a nod to Oppenheimer's legacy, US officials vow to prioritize cleanup at nuclear lab

The price tag for cleaning up waste from the once top-secret Manhattan Project and subsequent Cold War-era nuclear research at Los Alamos National Laboratory has more than doubled in the last seven years, and independent federal investigators say federal officials will have to do better to track costs and progress. The Government Accountability Office in a report issued Wednesday said while some improvements have been made, the U.S. Energy Department hasn’t taken a comprehensive approach to prioritizing cleanup activities at the New Mexico lab. The report came as federal officials hosted a forum Thursday in Los

July 20, 2023
In a nod to Oppenheimer's legacy, US officials vow to prioritize cleanup at nuclear lab
Science

California Science Center starts complex process to display Space Shuttle Endeavour vertically

A highly technical process began Thursday in Los Angeles to put NASA’s retired Space Shuttle Endeavour on permanent display in the vertical launch position complete with external tank and two solid rocket boosters. Workers used a crane to hoist the bottom segments of the boosters into the California Science Center’s future Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which is currently under construction in Exposition Park. The segments, called aft skirts, had to be precisely positioned so that the entire assembly can be stacked properly. Officials say it will be the first time the procedure has been

July 20, 2023
California Science Center starts complex process to display Space Shuttle Endeavour vertically

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