Search Results

On July 20, 1969, the bulkily space-suited figure of astronaut Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of Apollo 11’s lunar lander, planted his boot in the Moon's gray dust, and declared: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."…

The Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) is a remarkable evergreen, treelike plant found only in the southwestern United States. It was named by Mormon settlers in the early 1800s. Upon seeing the limbs of this plant branching upwards to heaven, the…

Sea-level rise is caused by adding mass (water) and heat to the ocean. The Antarctic ice sheet represents a potentially large source of water. Knowing the speed and direction (velocity) at which the Antarctic ice sheet is flowing to the ocean is…

Researchers recently discovered a black hole with a mass estimated at 3.3 times the mass of the Sun, which is significantly less than the lowest-mass black holes previously detected with approximately 5 times the Sun's mass. The new finding opens…

It has been a long-held belief that, as a result of hunting habits, early humans were partly or even primarily responsible for the decline and eventual extinction of most of the largest mammalian species that inhabited ancient Africa. These large…

Researchers from Rice University in Houston, Texas, United States, have found that climate change could potentially increase the size of stalled high-pressure weather systems (ridges) known as “blocking events,” according to global climate modelling…

Trees provide substantial benefits to the environment. In addition to improving air quality, reducing stormwater runoff, serving as a wildlife habitat, and sequestering carbon by absorbing carbon dioxide, trees also cool the atmosphere through shade…

Sand is mined for many applications, but the largest use by far is for fine aggregate in concrete. Smaller quantities of sand are used for fracking, water treatment (filtration), metal casting, and making glass, silicon chips, and ceramics. Concrete…

After a decades-long search, astronomers have detected the signature of a molecule predicted as the first type to have ever formed in the universe. Called helium hydride and symbolized HeH+, this positively charged ion consists of a helium atom that…

Researchers recently announced the discovery of the farthest object ever identified within our solar system. Designated 2018 VG18 and nicknamed Farout, the object is located about 120 astronomical units (AU) from the Sun, or 120 times the average…

A study published in the journal Atmospheric Environment (April 2019), comparing the differences in air pollution caused by automobiles powered by internal combustion (conventional) engines versus electric vehicles (EVs) powered by batteries,…

In a breakthrough for astronomy and physics, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) has obtained a direct image of a black hole. The first black hole captured in this manner is a supermassive one at the heart of a nearby galaxy, Messier 87. Further study…

Researchers have reached a key new milestone in the continuing search for worlds like Earth that could support life elsewhere in the universe. For the first time, water vapor has been detected in the atmosphere of an exoplanet that resides within…

Photosynthesis is a key natural process utilized by plants and is necessary for proper plant growth. Specifically, photosynthesis uses light to manufacture chemical compounds, including organic compounds—primarily carbohydrates—that are derived from…

Researchers surveying ice loss from 650 glaciers across a 2000-kilometer (1240-mile) west-to-east expanse of the Himalayan Mountains reported in the journal Science Advances (June 2019) significant melting caused by global climate change over the…

All freshwater comes from precipitation over land, which is distributed on Earth as blue and green water. Blue water—that is, surface and groundwater—is stored as freshwater in lakes, streams, ice, and snow, as well as below ground. Green water is…

Researchers Chi Ma of Caltech and Alan Rubin of the University of California at Los Angeles reported in the journal American Mineralogist (September 2019) the discovery in a meteorite of the first natural occurrence of the iron-carbide mineral…

Earth’s surface temperature is warming, and the Arctic region is warming even faster. Yet winters in the mid-latitudes of Asia, Europe, and the United States have been colder than average, thanks to blasts of record-breaking frigid air caused by…

After reports that June 2019 was the warmest June on record, July 2019 followed with the dubious distinction that it was the warmest month since atmospheric temperature record-keeping began in 1880, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and…

Researchers at Duke University in North Carolina (United States) have developed a test for distinguishing lead isotopes found in coal fly ash from lead isotopes found in other lead-containing sources, such as paint. Fly ash is a fine particulate…

Researchers have recorded the most massive neutron star on record, weighing as much as 2.17 Suns but packed into a city-sized sphere just 30 kilometers (19 miles) across. This astonishingly dense object is seemingly at the limits of the maximum mass…

New research from the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) predicts that the next decade will be a favorable period for human exploration due to lower risks of inclement "space weather"—a term that refers to radiation conditions…

Astronomers have arrived at a new, precise measurement of the mass of the Milky Way. Historical estimates have varied widely, from 500 billion times the mass of the Sun—a quantity known as a solar mass—to as high as three trillion solar masses. The…

Pesticides—including insecticides and herbicides—are chemical products used to control, reduce, or eliminate organisms that are harmful to cultivated plants. However, the use of pesticides on plants that provide foods for human consumption is often…

After exploring Mars for almost 15 years, the Opportunity rover has roved its last. In February 2019, NASA announced the end of any further attempts to communicate with the machine, which has been unresponsive since stricken by a planet-wide dust…

New research involving the analysis of spectra obtained from the Hubble Space Telescope has revealed that the vast, yellow patches on the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa are made of table salt, NaCl. The results, which overturn a prevailing view of…

A star encircling the supermassive black hole at the core of the Milky Way Galaxy has offered a new, precise test of general relativity. Put forth by German-born U.S. theoretical physicist Albert Einstein in 1915, the theory of general relativity…

More apples are consumed worldwide than any other temperate-zone tree fruit. Apples are eaten fresh, processed into jellies and preserves, cooked in pies and pastries, and made into sauces. Therefore, the cultivation of the trees (genus Malus) that…

A large sampling of the first galaxies to have formed in the early universe reveals that these vast collections of stars and gas shone brighter than their modern-day counterparts. The discovery provides vital new clues about how the cosmos underwent…

In 1987, the Montreal Protocol, the international treaty banning chemicals that deplete the ozone layer, was adopted. Thirty years later, NASA scientists reported in the journal Geophysical Research Letters (January 2018) satellite measurements…

On August 5, 2018 at 6:46 p.m. local time, a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck in Pulau Lombok, Indonesia. The earthquake occurred as the result of thrust faulting at a depth of 10.5 km (6.5 mi) in northern Lombok, according to the United States…

Neonicotinoid insecticides are the most used insecticide worldwide and have been linked to the decline of pollinator insects. In 2018, the European Union banned the outdoor use of three neonicotinoid insecticides: clothianidin, imidacloprid, and…

Among the most compelling exoplanets discovered to date is a "super-Earth" around Barnard's star, the closest single star to our solar system. This star, a cool red dwarf significantly smaller than the Sun, is located only six light-years away—just…

Dawn, a pioneering mission to our solar system's asteroid belt, has gone silent. In late October 2018, Dawn ran out of hydrazine, the thruster fuel needed to orient the spacecraft for communication with Earth and the generation of solar power.…

NASA's Curiosity rover has produced new key evidence in determining whether Mars has ever hosted life. While drilling in an ancient lakebed, Curiosity recently discovered organic material more complex and abundant than previously found on the Red…

Astronomers have detected light from the “cosmic dawn,” the primordial epoch when the universe’s first stars began to shine. The long-sought discovery could throw open a window onto a previously inaccessible era, revealing the rise of stars and…

Crown-of-thorns starfish or sea stars (Acanthaster planci; order Valvatida) are predatory marine invertebrates that feed on phytoplankton found on coral. They are native inhabitants of coral reefs in both the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean and are…

The Mississippi River has undergone extensive river engineering for flood control, with its 3500-mile Mississippi River and Tributaries levee (artificial-embankment) system. However, researchers reported in Nature (April 2018) that disconnecting the…

The warming temperatures attributed to global climate change are making it more difficult for sea turtle populations to survive. As a result of the unusual developmental processes found in many reptiles, including some species of turtles, the sex of…

Sunscreens are polluting the ocean, and increasing evidence points toward some ultraviolet-light–absorbing chemicals found in sunscreens as being harmful to marine life—particularly corals at popular tourist destinations. While working toward…

In July 2018, researchers reported the first definitive detection of a radioactive molecule outside of the solar system. The molecule, aluminum monofluoride (AlF), contains the radioactive isotope aluminum-26, forged deep inside a star through…

On February 6, 2018, the Falcon Heavy rocket passed its first launch test, lifting off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida atop a bright pillar of fire. Built by the California-based, private aerospace company SpaceX, the Falcon Heavy is the…

The fate of our Sun, along with 97 percent of the universe’s stars, is to become a white dwarf. These stellar relics are what is left when an aging star sheds most of its mass, ending up as a dense, shrunken, Earth-size core composed of carbon and…

The ice-covered moon Europa has long intrigued researchers as a potential abode for extraterrestrial life. Although its orbit around Jupiter is frigidly far from the Sun, Europa harbors an internal ocean. Furthermore, this inner liquid reservoir…

The World Health Organization (WHO) is planning to recognize gaming disorder as a mental health disease in 2018. The 11th revision of the WHO's International Classification of Diseases (ICD), which is a major worldwide reference for epidemiological,…

Mars, also known as the Red Planet, will soon welcome another robotic visitor sent from our Blue Planet. On May 5, 2018, NASA launched the InSight mission, an elaborate acronym for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat…

The third mission ever to visit the solar system's innermost planet, Mercury, began on October 20, 2018, with the launch of BepiColombo. The mission will attempt to answer longstanding mysteries about Mercury, including its internal structure and…

In the fall of 2014 and early winter of 2015, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 seabirds known as Cassin's auklets (Ptychoramphus aleuticus) died along the Pacific Coast from California to British Columbia, Canada. Researchers have now reported the…

The Kepler space telescope—the most prolific discoverer of exoplanets, or worlds outside our solar system, to date—has run out of fuel and ceased science operations, NASA announced on October 30, 2018. Kepler leaves a legacy for first revealing that…

The science of exoplanets—worlds beyond our solar system—has thus far focused more on quantity than quality. The considerable distances to most of the several thousand exoplanets catalogued to date, coupled with the limitations of current telescope…