Some would say that there is no sweeter image than that of a young mother embracing her infant toddler. Today, I’d like to share with you an even sweeter photo: a young mother cradling 30 to 40 of her babies, who are still eggs, in her clammy, clam-covered arms. To make it even more beautiful, … Read more
LOS ANGELOS – Earth’s inner core, a solid sphere of iron located deep within our planet, has slowed its rotation, according to new research. Scientists from the University of Southern California say their discovery challenges previous notions about the behavior of the inner core and raises intriguing questions about its influence on Earth’s dynamics. The … Read more
The inner core began to slow down around 2010, moving slower than the Earth’s surface. Credit: University of Southern California University of Southern California scientists have proven that Earth’s inner core is receding—slowing down—relative to the planet’s surface, as shown in a new study published in Nature. The motion of the inner core has been … Read more
This plot shows the difference in length between a PCFG gray whale born in 2020 versus one born before 2000. OSU researchers determined that a PCFG gray whale born in 2020 is expected to reach an adult body length of 1.65 meters (about 5 feet, 5 inches) shorter than a gray whale born before 2000. … Read more
Sensing deflected wavefronts in fluorescence microscopy. Credit: Optics (2024). DOI: 10.1364/OPTICA.518559 A team led by researchers at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus has adapted a class of techniques used in astronomy to whiten images of distant galaxies for use in the life sciences, offering biologists a faster and cheaper way to get clearer and sharper microscopic … Read more
Over an inland sea 100 million years ago, a great flying reptile haunted the skies. Kyle Johnson via Unsplash Looking out over the Eromanga Sea 100 million years ago, not every ferocious predator would be found under the surface of the water. [–> Instead, one threat would come from the skies. [–> The “long-vanished” sea … Read more
Artist’s impression of a photonic Bose-Einstein condensate (yellow) in a bath of dye molecules (red) that has been stirred by an external light source (white flash). Credit: A. Erglis/Albert-Ludwigs University of Freiburg Researchers at the University of Bonn have demonstrated that super photons, or the photo Bose-Einstein condensates conform to the fundamental theorems of physics, … Read more
Cracking and self-healing of peptide glass. Credit: Nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07408-x A team of materials scientists from Tel Aviv University and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, both in Israel, working with a colleague from the California Institute of Technology in the US, have discovered that mixing a certain peptide with water results in creating a … Read more
This graphic shows a three-dimensional map of the stars near the sun. These stars are close enough that they could be prime targets for direct imaging searches for planets using future telescopes. Blue haloes represent stars that have been observed with NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory and ESA’s XMM-Newton. The yellow star in the center of … Read more
HELSINKI — European-Chinese cooperation in lunar exploration may end despite successful cooperation on the ongoing Chang’e-6 mission. ESA provided a payload for China’s remote lunar sampler return mission Chang’e-6, which launched on May 3. The mission aims to collect and return samples from the lunar far side, providing unprecedented insights into the moon’s composition and … Read more