Science / 51

Beryl becomes the first hurricane this season

July 06, 2018

Beryl strengthened into the first hurricane of the 2018 Atlantic Hurricane Season east of the Lesser Antilles early Friday. The center's forecasters estimate Beryl will cross past the Lesser Antilles Sunday or Monday. The showers and storms are beginning to form a close circulation but it is not expect to strengthen much beyond maybe a tropical depression this weekend as it meanders just off the coast, however it could cause some rough seas for the beaches of North and SC.

Pruitt's resignation finally ends his corrupt assault on human health, Pallone rails

July 06, 2018

Pruitt's unprecedented pattern of constant scandals provided an eerie parallel to the president's more profane or mendacious tweets: any one or two would have been un-survivable in past administrations, but had become just part of the odd landscape of Washington under Trump.

Hang onto your hat for a hot holiday weekend

July 04, 2018

There is still a heat warning in effect with the temperature at 31 C but feeling more like 41C with the humidity - but with Westernerly gust of 48 km/h according to Environment Canada. It could be the hottest weather event of the season and because of the intensity of the weather situation, heat warnings are likely to be issued in the afternoons.

Scott Pruitt becomes latest Trump official to be harassed at a restaurant

July 03, 2018

This is the third time in recent weeks that Trump associates have been confronted at restaurants. Dravis recalled to investigators how Pruitt asked her to contact the Republican Attorneys General Association about a job for his wife, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing an individual familiar with the situation.

Astronomers Believe They Have First Image of Newborn Planet

July 03, 2018

The planet is thought to be about 370 light years from Earth. Astronomers from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy used a very large telescope in the Atacama Desert in Chile called the Very Large Telescope (honestly) provided by the European Southern Observatory - the European Space Agency's base in the Southern Hemisphere.

See how a planet is born

July 03, 2018

Miriam Kepler of the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany said hints of baby planets have been detected before, but astronomers were not sure whether those observations might simply be features in the swirling dust. This image shows the sky around the faint orange dwarf star PDS 70 (in the middle of the image). SPHERE also allowed the scientists to study many of PDS 70b's properties by "measuring the brightness of planet at different wavelengths".

Trump narrows list for Kennedy replacement; will announce pick July 9

July 03, 2018

Kennedy retires from the court July 31. Trump said Friday that his Supreme Court selection process would begin in earnest on Monday and that he would interview "six or seven" candidates in total. "The way he puts it, is someone who is quote, 'not weak, '" Leo said. Possible nominees being eyed include Thomas Hardiman, who serves alongside Trump's sister on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S.

This is the first time we've ever seen a newborn planet

July 03, 2018

This latest cornograph (an image that blocks the light of a star to make its surroundings visible) depicts the new planet clearly as a bright blob beside the black star. SPHERE also allowed the scientists to study many of PDS 70b's properties by "measuring the brightness of planet at different wavelengths". "The problem is that until now, most of these planet candidates could just have been features in the disc", explained Dr Keppler, who lead the team behind the discovery of the planet.

Big week: Trump, ahead of USA top court judge pick

July 02, 2018

Trump picked Gorsuch to replace Antonin Scalia for a lifetime job on the Supreme Court in January 2017, and now must nominate someone to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy . Among the candidates he's considering are two women, and he told reporters that he might meet with candidates over a golf weekend. But the opening on the court will allow Trump to choose a conservative justice who is more likely to side with its four other justices consistently, strengthening ...

Temperatures to creep close to 100 during heat wave

July 02, 2018

There may be scattered clouds this afternoon, but abundant sunshine will effectively add another 5 to 15-degrees to the heat indices , making conditions extremely risky. Clouds have exited the building! -for the most part- Heat and humidity, have not. Heat stroke is a severe medical emergency. Muscle cramping is usually the first sign of heat-related illnesses ( heat exhaustion or heat stroke).

Heat warning issued for Leeds-Grenville

July 01, 2018

In Toronto, it could feel as hot as 45 C on Saturday, once the humidex is factored in. Environment Canada is also warning the public about the sweltering temperatures, placing Hamilton and much of southern Ontario under a heat warning on Thursday afternoon.

'Flying brain' blasts off on cargo ship toward space station

July 01, 2018

The same first-stage booster launched the planet-hunting Tess satellite in April, while the capsule flew in 2016. Once about the ISS, CIMON will essentially assist astronauts in a bunch of experiments, and will also be used as a "flying camera".

Trump says he is considering two women for Supreme Court

July 01, 2018

Ninety percent of Democrats said the vacancy would make them more likely to vote for a Democratic Senate candidate in the November 6 election, compared with 81 percent of Republicans who said the issue would make them more likely to vote for a Senate candidate from their party.

Trump pledges July 9 announcement on Supreme Court nominee

July 01, 2018

In a 5-4 ruling, the Supreme Court bench handed over President Trump one of his biggest victories since taking charge of the White House in January a year ago, by upholding his executive order that sought ban on travelling from five Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

Trump's Supreme Court search begins, with youth a key factor

June 30, 2018

Trump says as many as seven candidates may be interviewed . Speaking en route his golf property in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said he would not ask candidates their position on Roe v. Also of interest are Amul Thapar, who serves on the federal appeals court in Cincinnati, and Brett Kavanaugh , a former clerk for Kennedy who serves on the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C.

Lengthy heat wave to follow heavy thunderstorms in Halton and southern Ontario

June 29, 2018

The national weather forecaster said it was not clear when there would be relief from the heat, and it would likely persist into next week. The heaviest storms are expected Wednesday morning and early afternoon. The agency adds that it remains unclear when the heat will break. Southwestern Ontario is in for some rain, followed by extreme heat. Symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion include a high body temperature, lack of sweat, confusion, fainting and unconsciousness.

Fantastic New View Of Ryugu Asteroid Reveals A Distinctly Dice-Like Shape

June 29, 2018

The agency plans to make three landings onto the surface of Ryugu over the next 18 months, collecting mineral samples and measuring surface conditions. Hayabusa Two's approach has also allowed Jaxa to determine the asteroid's orbit is retrograde, meaning it spins in the opposite direction to the Sun and the Earth.

Eyes in the Sky This July for the Longest Total Lunar Eclipse

June 29, 2018

This time, the moon will turn an eerie shade of red, therefore being called Blood Moon and apparently this eclipse will be the longest of the century. The Strawberry Moon is the most colorful of the year because it takes a low, shallow path across the sky, said Bob Bonadurer , director of the Milwaukee Public Museum 's planetarium.

Ghanaian killed in drive-by shooting in Canada

June 28, 2018

Dickinson says there's nothing in Nyarko's past to suggest she could have been targeted by the shooter, nor is there anything to suggest the three other people in the vehicle might have been targets. " This is a horrific crime because that could have been anybody and in this case, that is exactly what this narrative seems to say". "I think that our street gang subculture is an issue right now when it comes to policing in the city", he said.

The Coldest Place on Earth Is Even Colder Than Scientists Thought

June 28, 2018

American Geophysical Union's release claimed that -100 degree Celsius might be the lowest temperature that Earth can reach naturally. It beat out the previous lowest land temperature measured by a ground station on July 23, 1983, at Vostok Station in Antarctica .

Mini-Moon tonight! Next one happens in July 2018

June 28, 2018

There's a very straightforward explanation: The Strawberry Moon is a bit smaller than the other full moons, due its changing position in relation to the Earth. Some people around the world, however, have a different nickname for the June full moon. Also, it should serve as a reminder that it's time to start picking them up.

Blood moon is coming

June 27, 2018

Moon gazers in North America-and most of the Arctic-won't be treated to the eclipse this time around. What is the Blood Moon of July 27? It continues: 'The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the bad day of the Lord come'.

Saturn to reach opposition next to the Full Strawberry Moon Wednesday night

June 26, 2018

Hot on the heels of the summer solstice, June's full Strawberry Moon - appearing at the beginning of the sunniest and warmest months of the year - is slightly unusual this month. "If you have never spotted Saturn's rings, now is your chance", AccuWeather Astronomy Blogger Dave Samuhel said . "A small telescope is all you need".

RemoveDebris Set to Demonstrate Technology to Tackle Space Junk

June 26, 2018

The mission was envisioned and put together by scientists and engineers at the University of Surrey which confirmed that they have contact with the spacecraft about two hours after deployment. "The sail produces a significant amount of drag so that the spacecraft slows down and its orbit decays much faster than it would without the sail", said Aglietti.

Major oil spill spreads across Iowa floodwaters, forcing evacuations after train derails

June 25, 2018

According to the Associated Press , BNSF railroad spokesman Andy Williams said no one was injured in the derailment, and hazardous materials and environmental experts were on the scene within hours of the accident. Metropolitan Utilities District, which provides the Omaha metro area's drinking water, said it was monitoring the spill. The amount spilled also isn't yet known.

Oil train derails in Iowa, spilling crude into the river

June 26, 2018

Williams had earlier said 33 oil cars had derailed. The argument over transportation safety takes on added meaning as more new pipeline projects are scheduled to move oil from the Permian Basin of west Texas to export terminals in Houston and Corpus Christi and to the nation's primary pricing point for crude oil, Cushing, Oklahoma.

NASA discovers mysterious blue dune on Mars

June 25, 2018

Curiosity's engineers say that the storm poses little risk to the mission's operations and should not affect the rover's instruments. The 15-year-old Opportunity rover, which is hunkered down in Mars' Perseverance Valley, have been silent despite scientists keeping an ear out for a signal.

Elon Musk’s $130m military contract revealed

June 25, 2018

Competitors SpaceX at auction was United Launch Alliance (a joint company of the pillars of American "defense" Boeing and Lockheed Martin ) Delta 4 rocket, however, the cost to run them - $350 million - was uncompetitive. Air Force certified. Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy? It will be the first military national security space payload on the Falcon Heavy craft. The Air Force Command 52 mission is expected to be complete in September 2020, according to the contract announcement.

Mars Dust Storm Now ‘Planet-Encircling,’ Dimming Hopes For NASA Rover

June 24, 2018

The game, in its essence, is not offering very complex gameplay or quests, or anything like that, but its most significant advantage is that the gamers can drive on Mars , virtually, in a very close-to-reality recreation of the Red Planet.

Study to focus on polluted indoor air's impact on children

June 23, 2018

Inhaling pollution raised their risk of health problems for youngsters including heart problems, asthma and potentially reducing the growth of their lungs. Children are exposed to 30 per cent more air pollution than adults when walking to school because they are shorter, and nearer to exhaust fumes, a new report has found.

Tyrannosaurus rex could not stick out its tongue

June 22, 2018

The huge beast couldn't stick out its tongue like today's lizards and birds , say scientists studying dinosaur neck bones - and instead had a mouth more similar to an alligator's. Hummingbird tongues, for example, are flexible micropumps that are so long that they spool around the bird's skull when retracted, like a tape measure.

Scientists have named the fossil of an animal in honor of Obama,

June 22, 2018

The second part of the name is a reference to Jane Fargher, one of the owners of the property where the experts discovered the fossils . The animal was named after the famed naturalist because of his role in popularizing science and support of paleontology .

Volvo: 25% recycled plastics by 2025

June 22, 2018

Volvo plans to dramatically increase the green credentials of its cars, promising to use at least 25-percent recycled plastics from 2025. " Volvo Cars is committed to minimizing its global environmental footprint", president and chief executive of Volvo Cars, Håkan Samuelsson, said.

Poisonous plant that causes blisters and scars spreading across the south

June 22, 2018

The plant can grow up to up to 14 feet, creating a lot of shade in the area and inhibiting the growth of native species. Giant hogweed is native to Central and Southeast Asia. Compresses soaked in an aluminum acetate mixture - available at pharmacies - can provide relief for skin irritations. "This seems to be an isolated incident", Michael Flessner, an assistant professor and extension weed science specialist at Virginia Tech, said in a statement.

NASA Mars Rover captures incredible selfie as dust storm sweeps Red Planet

June 21, 2018

This year the two planets won't get quite as cozy. The red planet is expected to appear at its brightest in the sky on the morning of July 31. While the two planets' orbits are next to each other, their journeys along their respective orbits can make the distance between the Earth and Mars very different.

Trump Wants To Create Sixth Military Branch 'Space Force'

June 21, 2018

President Donald Trump announced Monday that he will direct the Defense Department and the Pentagon to create a new military branch, the " Space Force ". He was joined in the announcement by Vice President Mike Pence , new NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin and members of his space council.

Venus's Atmosphere Is so Violent It Makes the Planet Spin Faster

June 20, 2018

Akatsuki , a spacecraft sent by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, captured images of Venus in 2015. As a result, over one Venusian day duration days may increase by two minutes. As a result of this supervisee having a wind whose speed reaches 400 kilometers per hour. As seen in the ultraviolet, Venus is striped by light and dark areas indicating that an unknown absorber is operating in the planet's top cloud layer.

World's oldest orangutan Puan dies at Western Australia zoo

June 20, 2018

Puan, the 62-year-old grand dame of Perth Zoo, was put to sleep on Monday after her quality of life rapidly deteriorated due to her advanced years. Born in 1956, she was noted by the Guinness Book of Records as being the oldest verified Sumatran orangutan in the world in 2016.

Antarctic Ice Melting faster than ever, Studies Show

June 17, 2018

As lead author Andrew Shepherd of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom told the New York Times , this six-inch rise in the world's sea levels would translate into a dramatic increase of floods in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.

NASA’s Opportunity Rover Threatened By Giant Storm On Mars

June 17, 2018

Opportunity relies on energy from sunlight to operate, and with the light blocked, day has turned to night. "Each observation of these large storms brings us closer to being able to model these events-and maybe, someday, being able to forecast them", Rich Zurek, chief scientist for the Mars Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said in a statement.

Experts See Supermassive Black Hole Eating Star for First Time

June 17, 2018

A colossal black hole swallowed a star whole and belched out a jet of particles as a team of scientists watched in awe. Their measurements of the expansion suggested it was moving at 25% of the speed of light. Though it has always been theorized that stellar death-encounters, commonly known as tidal disruption events or TDEs , are common in the universe, only a few of them have been detected.

As The Scandals Mount, Conservatives Turn On Scott Pruitt

June 16, 2018

News organizations have unearthed evidence of Pruitt enlisting aides on multiple occasions to try to help line up work for his wife. "He needs to uphold the RFS as the law of the land and stop the secret waivers and he needs to make good on the president's promise to allow E15 use year round", said Jennings.

Infant Planets Discovered Near Young Star

June 16, 2018

These gaps in the rings of gas and dust could be used by forming planets. Their work is published by The Astrophysical Journal Letters . One team, led by University of MI scientist Richard Teague discovered a pair of Jupiter-sized exoplanets 7.4 billion miles (12 billion km) and 13 billion miles (21 million km) from the star .

Woman Sues NASA For Possession of Moon Dust Gifted by Neil Armstrong

June 15, 2018

While a proactive lawsuit against the agency might appear slightly paranoid for a small vial of alleged moon dust , it's not. "At that time, we didn't really know what to do with it". but only after they left. A group of scientists came to the conclusion that the warming has resulted in damage to the surface of the wheels of the lunar Rover and boots that reduced reflection of sunlight.

Rising sea levels could be accelerated by vulnerable ice shelves

June 15, 2018

The West Antarctic peninsula, one of the fastest warming places on Earth, has seen ice loss soar from 7bn to 33bn tonnes a year in that timespan, as ice shelves have collapsed. "This study shows that we're actually losing more mass along the edges of the ice sheet, where the ice sheet is making contact with the ocean, and that the warming oceans are melting the ice", Koppes said.

Stephen Hawking's Ashes Buried at Westminster Abbey: Details

June 15, 2018

About a thousand members of the public, including family and friends, will attend the Friday memorial service. Hawking never achieved his goal of a complete understanding of the universe or why it exists, but his voice will now live on throughout space for all time, a memento few, if any, will ever achieve.

Antarctica Is Losing An Unfathomable Amount of Ice

June 15, 2018

A February study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences based on satellite altimeter data that sea level rise at 3 millimeters per year has accelerated at a rate of 0.084 millimeters since 1993. East Antarctica has sometimes been a focus of attention for people who deny the science of global warming. Oceans are now rising by 3.4mm (0.13 inches) per year.

Brazil Midfielder Paulinho Names Five World Cup Favorites

June 14, 2018

All of these on their own are excellent reasons why hopefully we can persuade the 24 voters on the Fifa Executive Committee in December to award England this great prize. It is the first game of the World Cup and is scheduled for a 4pm BST kick off. He was born in Ghana in a refugee camp. "That is something over the next eight years that we'll look at from a (Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment) standpoint, an Exhibition Place standpoint".

Will NASA's Opportunity rover survive the huge dust storm on Mars?

June 14, 2018

However, a few weeks ago, NASA received distributing news that potentially posed a threat to the "little rover that could". As of June 10, it covered more than 15.8 million square miles (41 million square kilometres) - about the area of North America and Russian Federation combined.

Opportunity hunkers down as dust storm descends over the intrepid little rover

June 13, 2018

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter , Mars Odyssey and MAVEN orbiters all routinely support Opportunity's operations on the ground and communication back to Earth via the Deep Space Network. The rover has already survived one other harsh dust storm in its past on Mars. The space agency says the current storm has an opacity level of 10.8, and that 2007's severe dust storm had a 5.5.

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