Tag Archives: Earth

Science Focus Magazine – October 2024 Preview

New issue: A cure for ageing | BBC Science Focus Magazine

BBC Science Focus Magazine (September17, 2024) The latest issue features ‘A Cure For Aging’ – How Medicine is tackling the final frontier of health

Secrets of the Pyramids

The technical knowledge of Egyptian architects once again exceeds expectations. Was Egypt’s oldest pyramid, the Step Pyramid of Djoser, built using some seriously high-tech kit? And what’s with the huge, unexplained cavity that’s been discovered in the Great Pyramid of Giza?

Living fossils

Meet the creatures for whom time has almost stood still. These animals give us a glimpse into what life was like millions of years ago, and show us just how resilient some groups have been to the calamitous events that have consigned others – such as the dinosaurs – to extinction.

A mysterious UFO

There’s a mysterious object hurtling at one million miles per hour across the Milky Way. It’s moving so fast that it could exit the Milky Way entirely – and scientists are still trying to figure out what it is. Not quite a planet and not quite a star, so what is it?

Proba-3

The Proba-3 mission aims to unravel the mysteries of the Sun’s atmosphere by creating artificial eclipses on demand. But achieving this feat means teaching two spacecraft to perform a complicated dance with an unprecedented level of precision. If the mission is successful, scientists will be able to study the Sun’s corona in unprecedented detail, ushering in a new era for space observation.

Plus

Impostor syndrome: Ever feel like you’re an impostor, who’s bluffing their way through life? You’re not alone. Even the world’s most brilliant minds suffer from the fear of being ‘found out’. But what causes impostor syndrome? And more importantly, how can you overcome it?

Q&A: Boost your general knowledge! This issue: How do I break free of blame culture? How often should I change my toothbrush? How are identical twins created? Did dinosaurs have fleas? Why does my computer screen look so weird when I take a picture of it? What’s the smelliest animal? And more.

Sleep gadgets: A bad night’s sleep can follow you for days, making you tired and grumpy. Our tech experts have rounded up the best gadgets to help perfect your sleep routine and make the most of your shut-eye.

Science Focus Magazine – November 2023 Preview

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BBC Science Focus Magazine (November 2023) The latest issue features ‘Rethinking caffeine’ – How the right amount unlocks lifelong benefits for your brain and body.

The science of Doctor Who

At 60 years old, Doctor Who, the BBC show following the adventures of the regenerating Time Lord, continues to be highly enjoyable fiction. But it’s science fiction. The Gallifreyan takes science seriously… so we take a closer look at some of the science of Doctor Who, from time travel and the TARDIS to invading Cybermen and rogue planets.

How to make the Moon on Earth

The expense and prestige involved in sending landers and rovers to the Moon means you can’t afford for them not to work when they get there. But the lunar landscape is like nothing here on Earth. So how, and where do you test equipment that’s bound for the Moon?

Previews: The New Yorker Magazine – Oct 30, 2023

Mark Ulriksens “Spooky Spiral”

The New Yorker – October 30, 2023 issue: The new issues cover features Mark Ulriksen’s “Spooky Spiral” – The artist discusses monsters, Halloween mishaps, and the frenzy surrounding the holiday.

China’s Age of Malaise

A giant statue crushing a Chinese city.
Few citizens believe that China will reach the heights they once expected. “The word I use is ‘grieving,’ ” one entrepreneur said.Illustration by Xinmei Liu

Party officials are vanishing, young workers are “lying flat,” and entrepreneurs are fleeing the country. What does China’s inner turmoil mean for the world?

By Evan Osnos

Twenty-five years ago, China’s writer of the moment was a man named Wang Xiaobo. Wang had endured the Cultural Revolution, but unlike most of his peers, who turned the experience into earnest tales of trauma, he was an ironist, in the vein of Kurt Vonnegut, with a piercing eye for the intrusion of politics into private life. In his novella “Golden Age,” two young lovers confess to the bourgeois crime of extramarital sex—“We committed epic friendship in the mountain, breathing wet steamy breath.” They are summoned to account for their failure of revolutionary propriety, but the local apparatchiks prove to be less interested in Marx than in the prurient details of their “epic friendship.”

Plundering the Planet’s Resources

Earth going through a funnel with oil dripping down.

Our accelerating rates of extraction come with immense ecological and social consequences.

By Elizabeth Kolbert

The town of Spruce Pine, North Carolina, doesn’t have a lot to say for itself. Its Web site, which features a photo of a flowering tree next to a rusty bridge, notes that the town is “conveniently located between Asheville and Boone.” According to the latest census data, it has 2,332 residents and a population density of 498.1 per square mile. A recent story in the local newspaper concerned the closing of the Hardee’s on Highway 19E; this followed an incident, back in May, when a fourteen-year-old boy who’d eaten a biscuit at the restaurant began to hallucinate and had to be taken to the hospital. Without Spruce Pine, though, the global economy might well unravel.

‘Abyss Of Time’: How James Hutton Founded Geology & ‘Earth’s Age’ In Scotland

BBC News (March 26, 2023) – In the 1700s, geologist James Hutton discovered a rock formation in Scotland that transformed how we think about time. Through studying the rocky headland of Siccar Point, Hutton identified the existence of ‘deep time’ – proving that Earth is millions, not thousands, of years old.

James Hutton (1726–1797), a Scottish farmer and naturalist, is known as the founder of modern geology. He was a great observer of the world around him. More importantly, he made carefully reasoned geological arguments. Hutton came to believe that the Earth was perpetually being formed; for example, molten material is forced up into mountains, eroded, and then eroded sediments are washed away.

He recognized that the history of the Earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day. His ideas and approach to studying the Earth established geology as a proper science.

Views: NASA Unveils ‘Earth System Observatory’ (ESO)

NASA Goddard (December 2022) – NASA is developing the Earth System Observatory, the core of which is five satellite missions providing critical data on climate change, severe weather and other natural hazards, wildfires, and global food production.

These observations will address the most pressing questions about our changing planet. Taken together as a single Observatory, NASA will have a holistic, 3D view of Earth to better understand how our planet’s complex systems work together and improve our capability to predict how our climate may change.

NASA’s Open Source Science strategy is the key to bringing the data from these missions together into a single observatory to help understand the earth as a system and accelerate our ability to use this understanding. These observations will better inform decision-makers on how our planet is changing, with greater precision on previously unimaginable scales – from entire continents down to individual trees, from atmosphere to bedrock.

Science: How Advanced Computer Models Project Future Climate Scenarios

Princeton University (December 13, 2022) – Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces interact and combine in powerful, yet often unseen, ways as part of a complex planetary system that determines the climate.

Over many decades, researchers at Princeton University have played a leading role in the development of advanced computational models that simulate interactions among these elements to inform an understanding of future climate scenarios under varying conditions.

In this video, climate scientists Gabe Vecchi and Laure Resplandy discuss how computational models are used to project future climate scenarios and inform mitigation strategies.

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Futuristic Design: Banff Extraterrestrial Park By Yongwook Seong (2022)

Yongwook Seong created a Sci-Fi themed architecture series (Title: Banff Extraterrestrial Park) by experimenting AI-generated images via Midjourney. The project unfolds from Extraterrestrial 006 visiting Banff and terraforming it to construct a tourist park as part of the Earth revitalization project.
During research, 006 saw Mycelium fungi as an ideal local building material, experimenting it with their stardusts. Sky lounges grow themselves at the extraterrestrial-level strength and stability.

During research, 006 saw Mycelium fungi as an ideal local building material, experimenting it with their stardusts. Sky lounges grow themselves at the extraterrestrial-level strength and stability.

High-Rise Hoodoos became one of the main attractions at Banff Extraterrestrial Park.

High-Rise Hoodoos became one of the main attractions at Banff Extraterrestrial Park.

Stardust drones are constructing (Ex) terrestrial town. These drones are autonomous builders under the direction of Extraterrestrial Architect.

Stardust drones are constructing (Ex) terrestrial town. These drones are autonomous builders under the direction of Extraterrestrial Architect.

Yongwook Seong [ joŋuk sʌŋ ] is a designer, holding a Master of Architecture degree from University of British Columbia, Vancouver. His interest lies in various fields including architecture, furniture design, lighting design, visual arts and etc. He lives in Banff, AB, Canada.

Website

Science: The Search For Alien Life In The Universe

The thought of finding alien life has fascinated people since the time of the ancient Greeks—but developments in astrobiology could be about to turn this possibility into reality. How do you hunt for life beyond Earth—and might this be the decade when we find it?

Chapters: 00:00 – Is there life beyond Earth? 00:56 – How has the search for life evolved? 02:36 – What signs of life are scientists looking for? 03:48 – What are biosignatures? 04:28 – How to find intelligent life 06:03 – How telescopes today have improved our search 07:52 – Expanding the search beyond Earth

Read more of Alok Sharma’s coverage on the search for life in space: https://econ.st/3zw1Hxt

Science: Probing Earth’s Inner Core, Complete Read Of Human Genome

On this week’s show: A journey to the center of the center of the Earth, and what was missing from the first human genome project.

Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about the many mysteries surrounding the innermost part of our planet—from its surprisingly recent birth to whether it spins faster or slower than the rest of the planet.

Next, Sarah chats with Adam Phillippy about the results from the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium, an effort to create a complete and detailed read of the human genome. Phillippy, a senior investigator and head of the Genome Informatics Section at the National Human Genome Research Institute, explains what we can learn by topping up the human genome with roughly 200 more megabases of genetic information—practically a whole chromosome’s worth of additional sequencing.

See all the T2T papers.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

[Image: V. Altounian/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: An array of the human chromosomes showing newly sequenced parts from the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq1885

New Book Reviews: ‘A (Very) Short History Of Life On Earth’ By Henry Gee (2021)