When Naomi Oreskes lectures about climate change, she gets the same question over and over again. “A member of the audience will say: ‘Well, what can I personally do? What can I do as an individual to fix this problem?'” Oreskes, a science historian at Harvard University, told Insider. “Much less frequently do they say:
What’s the price of an accurate clock? Entropy, a new study has revealed. Entropy – or disorder – is created every time a clock ticks. Now scientists working with a tiny clock have proven a simple relationship: The more accurate a clock runs, the more entropy it generates. “If you want your clock to be
Well over 4,000 exoplanets orbiting other stars in the Milky Way have been identified and confirmed to date. From that population, a curious pattern has emerged: there are extremely few exoplanets between 1.5 and 2 times the size of Earth orbiting close to their stars, a phenomenon known as the small planet radius gap. Where
At 5:29 am on the morning of 16 July 1945, in the state of New Mexico, a dreadful slice of history was made. The dawn calm was torn asunder as the United States Army detonated a plutonium implosion device known as the Gadget – the world’s very first test of a nuclear bomb, known as
A nightmarish fish that typically dwells thousands of feet below the ocean’s surface recently washed ashore on a California beach, according to news reports. The deep-sea fish, known as an anglerfish, is rather elusive and rarely seen outside of the deep ocean, according to The Guardian. But earlier this month, the intact body of an anglerfish was
On 8 May 2021, a piece of space junk from a Chinese rocket fell uncontrolled back to Earth and landed in the Indian Ocean near the Maldives. A year ago, in May 2020, another Chinese rocket met the same fate when it plummeted out of control into the waters off the West African coast. No
A new technique for determining the ages of stars in the Milky Way has given us tighter constraints for an ancient galactic collision. By closely examining the internal oscillations and chemical composition of 95 red giant stars, a team of astronomers led by the University of Birmingham in the UK has determined that the Milky
In caves on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, ancient peoples marked the walls with red and mulberry hand stencils, and painted images of large native mammals or imaginary human-animal creatures. These are the oldest cave art sites yet known – or at least the oldest attributed to our species. One painting of a Sulawesi warty
4.5 billion years ago, when the Solar System was still forming, particles from our Sun’s solar wind probably got caught up in the core of Earth as it assembled from space rubble. That’s the conclusion scientists have drawn after analysing an iron meteorite and finding an excess of noble gases with isotope ratios consistent with
After a winter of lockdown and with coronavirus restrictions beginning to lift, many will be hoping for good weather this summer. Restrictions on foreign travel have meant that more people plan to stay within their country for their summer holidays than ever before. This shift, along with our social lives increasingly being based outside, makes
The molecule hydroxyl (HO) is common on Earth, but astronomers have not yet determined how abundant it is on other worlds. For the first time, astronomers have conclusively detected it in the atmosphere of an ultra-hot Jupiter, WASP-33b. WASP-33b is a strange exoplanet. 400 light-years away from us, the planet is known as an ultra-hot Jupiter:
History tells us that in the year 365 CE, the Mediterranean region was rocked by a thunderous earthquake estimated as a magnitude 8.0 or higher. The quake and subsequent tsunami killed tens of thousands of people, destroying Alexandria in Egypt and several other cities. However, new research now suggests some previous assumptions about the quake and its
Ghost forests could be an invisible source of greenhouse gas emissions, researchers warn. As rising seas poison trees along the Atlantic coast of the United States, a new study suggests that these ghost trees are beginning to ‘fart’ carbon dioxide and methane. Technically, all trees do a little bit of farting. Live trees are known
Previously undiscovered underwater currents can seriously increase the power of hurricanes, a new study shows, research which should make storm system forecasts more accurate in the future. The findings were made through detailed measurements of the 2017 Category 5 storm Hurricane Maria, taken from a suite of subsurface oceanographic instruments. The analysis revealed interactions between
When you think of micro- or nanotechnology, you likely think of small electronics like your phone, a tiny robot or a microchip. But COVID-19 tests – which have proven to be central to controlling the pandemic – are also a form of miniaturized technology. Many COVID-19 tests can give results within hours without the need
Our world is hugged by complex layers of gases that make up the atmosphere. They protect and nurture all life as we know it. Now, we’re shrinking an entire one of those layers – the stratosphere – thanks to the profound impacts we are having on our planet. An alarming new study has found that
If you’re a fan of titanium, you should head to the nearest supernova. You’ll get more than enough of it. And its presence can help astronomers understand how supernovae work. We understand the basic picture of how the most massive stars die. Once an iron core fuses in their centers, they stop producing energy from
There you are, sitting front row of Miss Ryan’s English class in your underwear, when in walks Chris Hemsworth holding a saxophone in one hand and a turtle in the other, asking you to play in his band. “Why not?” you say, taking the turtle before snapping awake in a cold sweat, the darkness pressing
China’s Zhurong rover touched down on Mars early Saturday, state media reported, a triumph for Beijing’s increasingly bold space ambitions and a history-making feat for a nation on its first-ever Martian mission. The lander carrying Zhurong completed the treacherous descent through the Martian atmosphere using a parachute to navigate the “seven minutes of terror” as
More than mere beautiful, coveted stones, diamonds hold another sort of wealth: fragments of Earth’s deep history. From flaws within the mineral’s near-perfect lattice, scientists have just worked out how to extract long-hidden records of our planet’s past. “We like the ones that no one else really wants,” said geochemist Yaakov Weiss from Columbia University,
A spectacularly brilliant flare of light from over 700 million light-years away is turning out to be a gift that keeps on giving. Emitted from the heart of a galaxy, it was the dying electromagnetic scream of a star as it was torn apart and partially devoured by a black hole roughly 5 million times
Modeling the future consequences of climate change requires a huge number of calculations based on a vast amount of factors, including how well microbes in soil might hold onto carbon – something that’s much more complicated than originally thought. In new research, scientists combined field measurements with computer modeling to show significant seasonal shifts in
China is about to attempt its first Mars landing – a feat accomplished successfully by only half the spacecraft that have ever tried. Tianwen-1, as the mission is called, means “questions to heaven”. It aims to be the first Mars mission to send a spacecraft into the planet’s orbit, drop a landing platform onto the
Australia, one of the world-leaders in household rooftop solar panel uptake, has once again broken its own record for the number of solar panels installed in a year. In 2020, installations were up nearly 30 percent from the year before, according to an analysis from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. The data, compiled by energy
A red giant star 16,000 light-years away appears to be a bona fide member of just the second generation of stars in the Universe. According to an analysis of its chemical abundances, it seems to contain elements produced in the life and death of just a single first-generation star. Therefore, with its help, we might
Far down in the periodic table you’ll find a list of heavy elements born in chaos. The kind of chaos you might find in an exploding star perhaps, or a collision between two neutron stars. Physicists have uncovered a pair of large, still-radioactive isotopes in samples of deep-sea crust pulled up from 1,500 meters (nearly
An ancient necropolis with 40 tombs, including cylindrical jars filled with human remains, has been discovered on the French island of Corsica. The people buried in the cemetery range from infants to adults, the archaeologists said. Located in the town of Île-Rousse on the island’s northern coast, the cemetery seems to have been used between
What’s in a gas giant? No, really. The interiors of Jupiter and Saturn are actually quite difficult to probe. But Saturn’s uniquely glorious and extensive ring system is proving to be an excellent tool for figuring out the densities deep below its thick cloud layers, right down to the core. That core, according to a
If you’re going to gargle something next time you go for a run, here’s some free advice: Try using a pink-colored drink. As strange as it sounds, pink drinks appear to be linked with enhanced running performance. In a new study, scientists found that runners who rinsed their mouths with a pink-colored liquid solution –
Last month, experts from NASA and other space agencies around the world faced a troubling hypothetical scenario: A mysterious asteroid had just been discovered 35 million miles away, and it was heading for Earth. The space rock was expected to hit in six months. The situation was fictional, part of a week-long exercise that simulated
Decades before we knew birds could ‘see’ Earth’s magnetic field, Albert Einstein was discussing the possibility of undiscovered super senses in his fan mail. A long-lost letter from the famous scientist to an inquiring engineer in 1949 has turned out to be extraordinarily prescient in both the field of biology and physics. The original enquiry
The United States’ offshore wind industry is tiny, with just seven wind turbines operating off Rhode Island and Virginia. The few attempts to build large-scale wind farms like Europe’s have run into long delays, but that may be about to change. On 11 May 2021, the US government issued the final federal approval for the
Once upon a time, the Aqueduct of Valens was one of the longest aqueduct lines in the ancient world. By the fifth century, Constantinople’s citizens were getting their water through this channel – named after emperor Valens – that could have exceeded 500 kilometers (310 miles) in its prime. Today, scientists have finally identified a
Over the past five years, a sensor keeping count of neutron emissions deep within the rubble of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant has kept track of a gradual spike in activity. The rising count might be nothing. It might even drop back down again, given time. Scientists aren’t exactly keen on taking any chances, as
Whether it’s turning forests into cropland or savannah into pastures, humanity has repurposed land over the last 60 years equivalent in area to Africa and Europe combined, researchers said Tuesday. If you count all such transitions since 1960, it adds up to about 43 million square kilometers (16.5 square miles), four times more than previous
In the permanent twilight of the mesopelagic, a silent predator hunts. The enigmatic giant squid is rarely observed in its natural habitat. In the first videos of their kind, marine scientists have caught its hunting behavior in the wild – revealing for the first time how these monsters of the deep stalk and attack their
A never-ending detonation could be the key to hypersonic flight and space planes that can seamlessly fly from Earth into orbit. And now, researchers have recreated the explosive phenomenon in the lab that could make it possible. Detonations are a particularly powerful kind of explosion that move outward faster than the speed of sound. The massive
A spacecraft carrying around 56.70g of dust from the surface of an asteroid is on its way back to Earth. The spacecraft, called OSIRIS-REx, launched its thrusters for 7 minutes on Monday to leave the asteroid Bennu, NASA said in a statement on Monday. The probe had collected 60 grams, or about 2 ounces, of carbon-rich
Long-term stress in dogs can be caused by their relationship with their owners and their owner’s personality, according to a new study – although some breeds are more susceptible to this kind of stress than others, it appears. Researchers measured levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the hairs of 42 different dog breeds and
Jupiter: king of the planets, protector of the inner Solar System. We all know what the gas giant looks like, with its vanilla and butterscotch ice-cream bands of counter-rotating cloud, and the iconic red storm raging in the southern hemisphere. But that’s only how Jupiter looks in optical wavelengths, though. When imaged in wavelengths beyond
It might seem odd to find supporters of climate action debating the merits of a concept that science shows to be essential for halting climate change, and which is accordingly embedded at the heart of the defining global agreement. Yet that is where we find ourselves with the concept of “net zero” – the point
Everybody knows the physical feeling of acceleration: the surging sensation as we pick up speed while moving from one place to another. But few of us know what it might be doing to our bodies. In a new study, scientists investigated the physiological effects of acceleration in a small experiment, where participants simply drove themselves
Sometime in the early Jurassic, an ancient squid-like creature speared a yummy lobster-like crustacean with its many hooked tentacles. Just as it began to dig into its meal, the eater became the eaten. A much larger predator swooped in, tore a chunk out of the squid’s soft middle and dashed off, leaving the leftovers of
We have precisely one data point against which to measure exoplanets for habitability: Earth. As far as we know, life has evolved only on this one pale blue dot, orbiting a single star in the middle of a spiral arm of an otherwise unremarkable galaxy. Most stars in the Milky Way, however, are not like
A large-scale animal study has revealed something rather interesting about yawning: Vertebrates with larger brains and more neurons tend to have longer-lasting yawns. Researchers collected data on 1,291 separate yawns from zoo trips and online videos, covering a total of 55 mammal species and 46 bird species, and found “robust positive correlations” between how long
Voyager 1, having spent over 43 years zooming away from Earth since its 1977 launch, is now a very long way away indeed. Its distance from the Sun is over 150 times the distance between Earth and the Sun. It takes over 21 hours for transmissions traveling at light speed to arrive at Earth. It
A cave ancient Romans believed to be a gate to the underworld was so deadly that it killed all animals who entered its proximity, while not harming the human priests who led them. Millennia later, scientists believe they have figured out why – a concentrated cloud of carbon dioxide that suffocated those who breathed it.
A symbiotic relationship between two marine lifeforms has just been discovered thriving at the bottom of the ocean, after disappearing from the fossil record for hundreds of millions of years. Scientists have found non-skeletal corals growing from the stalks of marine animals known as crinoids, or sea lilies, on the floor of the Pacific Ocean,
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