Richard Rood, Conversation
Earth's climate is changing rapidly. We know this from billions of observations, documented in thousands of journal papers and texts and summarized every few years by the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The primary cause of that change is the release of carbon dioxide from burning coal, oil and natural gas.
Lisa Zyga, PhysOrg
Although there are many counterintuitive ideas in quantum theory, the idea that influences can travel backwards in time (from the future to the past) is generally not one of them. However, recently some physicists have been looking into this idea, called "retrocausality," because it can potentially resolve some long-standing puzzles in quantum physics.
David Ropeik, Aeon Magazine
The fear of ionising (nuclear) radiation is deeply ingrained in the public psyche. For reasons partly historical and partly psychological, we simply assume that any exposure to ionising radiation is dangerous. The dose doesn't matter. The nature of the radioactive material doesn't matter. The route of exposure dermal, inhalation, ingestion doesn't matter. Radiation = Danger = Fear. Period.
Tabi Jackson Gee, The Telegraph
I was going to start this article about robots with a reference to Fritz Lang's Metropolis. But then I spoke to Blay Whitby, a philosopher concerned with the social impact of emerging technologies and the trivialisation of robots in the media - and I decided otherwise.
Hannah Devlin, The Guardian
String theory makes the grand promise of weaving together all of physics into a single sublime framework. The only downside is that scientists have yet to find any experimental proof that it is right and critics question whether its predictions are even testable.
Neven Sesardic, Quillette
A company advertises product X by claiming that it substantially improves memory and staves off dementia. The company provides no convincing evidence for these claims, and scientific studies fail to confirm the existence of the stipulated effects. Would you buy X? Probably not.
Matt Williams, Universe Today
The Universe is an extremely big place. As astronomers looked farther into space over the centuries, and deeper into the past, they came to understand just how small and insignificant our planet and our species seem by comparison. At the same time, ongoing investigations into electromagnetism and distant stars led scientists to deduce what the the speed of light is and that it is the fastest speed obtainable.As such, astronomers have taken to using the the distance light travels within a single year (aka. Читать дальше...
Daniel Oberhaus, Motherboard
Where did life come from? It remains one the biggest questions in biology, and has preoccupied scientists for hundreds of years. The problem, simply put, is that the universe began as a roiling cosmic soup of inanimate matter, but eventually gave rise to a diverse multitude of lifeforms.
Alison Klesman, Astronomy
Jupiter's Great Red Spot is a hurricane-like storm about 10,200 miles (16,500km) wide and at least 150 years old. On July 10, the Juno spacecraft will complete the first ever up-close study of this storm, flying 5,600 miles (9,000km) above the Great Red Spot. In preparation for this landmark opportunity to observe some of our solar system's most extreme weather, the Gemini and Subaru Telescopes on Mauna Kea have taken some stunning images of Jupiter to supplement the... Читать дальше...
David Chavez, Discover
This Fourth of July, as you and your family settle on a sandy beach or grassy lawn to watch a fireworks display, you're probably not thinking about the science behind the explosives you're witnessing. In fact, you probably are not even thinking of them as explosives. But that's exactly what they are-and there's a lot of science that goes into creating that dazzling display of fire and colors.Fireworks often comprise mixtures of oxidizers and fuels that are ready to participate in combustion chemical reactions. Читать дальше...
Sara Miller, LS
Scientists in England have uncovered a possible link between a common antibacterial ingredient and antibiotic resistance.The ingredient, called triclosan, has been on the radar of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for some time. Indeed, in 2016, the FDA banned the ingredient in soaps available to consumers because of both safety concerns and a lack of evidence that soaps with triclosan worked any better than regular soap and water.
Eric Berger, Ars Technica
On the morning of June 17, the Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES lost control of a large satellite in geostationary space, nearly 36,000km above the Earth's surface. Shortly after, the satellite operator began working with another company that specializes in space situational awareness to track the drifting machine, AMC-9. A few days ago that company, ExoAnalytic Solutions, saw the AMC-9 satellite begin to fragment."We have seen several pieces come off of it... Читать дальше...
