Science

Tusk master: Wally the walrus departs Isles of Scilly and heads north

Marine experts hope the creature is on his way back to the Norwegian archipelago of SvalbardAfter spending the summer wowing British holidaymakers – and sometimes making a nuisance of himself by accidentally sinking boats – Wally the walrus appears to be trying to head home.The British Divers Marine Life Rescue (BDMLR) said on Tuesday that Wally had departed the Isles of Scilly, where he had been in residence since June, and there has been a positive sighting of him in the waters off Ireland.
Tags: Europe, Science, Biology, Animals, Environment, UK News, World news, Wildlife, Marine Life, Animal behaviour, Norway, Scilly, Isles, Wally, British Divers Marine Life Rescue BDMLR

Rare Back-to-Back Flybys of Venus Will Happen Next Week

Two spacecraft will fly past either side of Venus next week in the span of just 33 hours. The rare double flyby gives researchers an opportunity to observe the planet from multiple vantage points at nearly the same time.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Spaceflight, Venus, Spacecraft, Outer Space, JAXA, Parker Solar Probe, BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter, Discovery And Exploration Of The Solar System, Cosmic Vision, Observations And Explorations Of Venus, Technology Internet, Gravity Assist, Missions To Mercury

Birds Are Brazenly Stealing Hair Off Animals' Backs

Some bird species regularly pluck hair off unsuspecting animals, including humans, to make linings for their nests, scientists say. In a recent study, they detail the hair theft phenomenon, citing numerous YouTube videos that capture birds in the act. It’s not entirely clear why hair is such an appealing construction…Read more...
Tags: Science, Biology, Animals, Environment, Bird, Hair, Nest, Raccoon, Tufted Titmouse, Mammal, Tit, Plucking, Procyonidae, Jeffery Brown, Henry Pollock, Baeolophus

Colorado Flash Flood Shuts Down Highway Due to Damage 'Unlike Anything' Seen Before

Well, it’s finally infrastructure week and not a moment too soon. On Sunday, Colorado’s crucial east-west artery of I-70 shut down indefinitely “due to extreme damage from the latest round of flooding” to hit the state.Read more...
Tags: Weather, Science, Colorado, Environment, Fox, Nature, Flood, Earth Sciences, Hydrology, Flash Flood, Physical Geography, Disaster Accident

Smoke From Siberian Wildfires Has Reached the North Pole

Siberia is a famously cold place. But since May, it’s been extremely hot and extremely on fire. Those wildfires are so extreme that they’ve sent smoke streaming to the North Pole, and the plume is expected to reach Canada later this week.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Articles, Nature, Canada, Air Pollution, Pollution, Siberia, Wildfire, North Pole, Natural Environment, Fire Prevention, Climate Forcing, Disaster Accident, Holdover Fire, Ecological Succession

Baby Turtles Are Eating a Disturbing Amount of Plastic

Researchers probing the bellies of marine sea turtles from two oceans found an overwhelming amount of plastic in the reptiles’ stomachs. Performing autopsies on stranded and bycaught specimens of five different species of sea turtles, the research team found hundreds of bits of plastic in several dozen…Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, NFL, Reptiles, Water Pollution, Turtle, Plastic Pollution, Pacific Basin, Sea Turtles, Green Sea Turtle, Microplastics, Emily Duncan, Sea Turtle, Marine Debris, Chelonioidea, Marine Reptile

Greenland Lost Enough Ice in a Single Day to Cover Florida

It’s been a minute since we’ve checked in on Greenland. Let’s see what’s... oh, oh no. The ice sheet covering the island went into a major meltdown last week, and it’s ongoing as we speak. Enough ice melted in one single day to cover Florida in 2 inches (5.1 centimeters) of water.Read more...
Tags: Florida, Science, Environment, Sea Level Rise, Greenland, Glacier, Earth Sciences, Oceanography, Effects Of Climate Change, Physical Sciences, Ice Sheet, Glaciology, Cryosphere, Marco Tedesco, Physical Geography, Montane Ecology

Evolutionary ‘trap’ leading young sea turtles to ingest plastic, study says

Researchers find fragments in innards of species that have adapted to develop in open ocean, which has highly polluted areasYoung marine turtles are swallowing large quantities of plastic, with ocean pollution changing habitats that were once ideal for their development into a risk, researchers have found.The impact of plastic on wildlife is a growing area of research, and studies have revealed harrowing cases of marine animals sustaining injuries or dying after ingesting such material or becomi...
Tags: Science, Environment, World news, Pollution, Wildlife, Conservation, Marine Life, Plastics

Linen Is the Hot New Fabric of the Summer/Eternity

Designer Jemma Swatek, who created the brand Lykke Wullf, went to college for environmental studies but later pivoted to fashion design. Now, though, she finds herself considering her environment constantly while making clothes.Read more...
Tags: Science, Clothing, Environment, Materials, Agriculture, Linens, Suit, Textiles, Knitting, Flax, Textile, Nicholas K, Lykke Wullf, Dress Shirt, Gina Stovall, Jemma Swatek

$100M gift from Irvine Co.’s Bren powers Caltech space electricity idea

A solar panel in a lab of the Space Solar Power Project at Caltech. Donald Bren donated $100 million to this project. (Courtesy: Caltech) Sketch of solar array from the Space Solar Power Project at Caltech. Donald Bren donated $100 million to this project. (Courtesy: Caltech) A look at how thin the solar panels are for Caltech’s Solar Space Power Project. Donald Bren has given $100 million-plus to fund Caltech’s research. (Courtesy: Caltech) Microscopic closeup of technology used in Calte...
Tags: Amazon, Energy, Business, Real Estate, Science, News, Education, California, Housing, Environment, Sport, Soccer, Richard Branson, Silicon Valley, Pasadena, Local News

How Donald Bren’s $100 million gift powers Caltech space electricity idea

A solar panel in a lab of the Space Solar Power Project at Caltech. Donald Bren donated $100 million to this project. (Courtesy: Caltech) Sketch of solar array from the Space Solar Power Project at Caltech. Donald Bren donated $100 million to this project. (Courtesy: Caltech) Microscopic closeup of technology used in Caltech’s Solar Space Power Project. Donald Bren has given $100 million-plus to fund the research. (Courtesy: Caltech) A look at how thin the solar panels are for Caltech’s S...
Tags: Amazon, Energy, Business, Real Estate, Science, News, Education, California, Housing, Environment, Sport, Soccer, Richard Branson, Silicon Valley, Pasadena, Local News

81 Million Americans Are Suffering Under Heat Watches and Warnings

Extreme heat is blanketing a huge portion of the country, save those in the Great Lakes and New England (you lucky, lucky bastards). A staggering 81 million are living in areas under some form of heat warning from the National Weather Service.Read more...
Tags: Science, Climate Change, Environment, Articles, Meteorology, Great Lakes, Extreme Weather, New England, Heat Wave, Excessive Heat Warning, Physical Geography, Weather Hazards, Atmospheric Thermodynamics, Wet Bulb Temperature, Torridness, Heat Dome

Astronomers Spot Two Unusually Red Objects in the Asteroid Belt

They’re red, they’re reasonably big, and they have no business being in the main asteroid belt, but their discovery confirms the complex conditions in place when the solar system was still forming. Read more...
Tags: Astronomy, Science, Environment, Asteroid, Solar System, Kuiper Belt, Planetary Science, Applied Sciences, Space Science, Asteroid Belt, Technology Internet, Extraterrestrial Water, Formation And Evolution Of The Solar System, Sunao Hasegawa, Planetesimal, 269 Justitia

Top 5 Places to Try to Escape Societal Collapse

Everybody needs a plan to survive the zombie apocalypse, climate apocalypse, financial apocalypse, or all of the above. You need your shotgun, your go-bags, and your pickup truck but mostly you just need a good place to hide out while all the shit goes down—a refuge from systemic, global collapse. Read more...
Tags: Science, Climate Change, Environment, Articles, Renewable Energy, World, Iceland, Countries, The Lord Of The Rings, Technological Change, Renewable Resource, Renewable Energy Technology, Low Carbon Economy, Member States Of The United Nations, Island Countries

Underground 'Lakes' on Mars May Just Be Big Globs of Clay

Recent hubbub about subsurface lakes detected on Mars has a new twist, as new research argues that the underground structures aren’t lakes at all. The researchers behind the study say that, rather than liquid water, the Martian south pole contains smectites, a class of clays that have been misinterpreted in the data.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Water, Planets, Mars, Life on Mars, Planetary Science, Isaac Smith, Space Science, Water On Mars, Michael Sori, Marsis, Planum Australe, Mars Express, Planetary Surface, Aditya Khuller

Archer Threatens His Fellow Nerds and Fights Climate Change in an Explosive Season 12 Trailer

Let us put away all thoughts of the “coma seasons” of Archer, which were only intermittently fun—season eight’s retro private-eye Dreamland had some good moments, but season 10's 1999 got lost in space rather quickly. Really, all they did was make us miss Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) and his Archer comrades in…Read more...
Tags: Science, Television, Environment, Archer, FXX, Jon Benjamin, Jessica Walter, Judy Greer, Dreamland, Sterling Archer, H Jon Benjamin, American Television Series, Entertainment Culture, Cheryl Tunt

Snakes Are Monitoring Levels of Radioactivity

Fukushima’s wildlife has been intensely studied since the tsunami and nuclear disaster struck the region a decade ago. But in a new paper, scientists detail how wildlife are being enlisted to monitor the region itself.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Fukushima, Soil, Reptile, Snake, Fukushima Prefecture, Rat Snake, Fukushima disaster cleanup, Branches Of Biology, Hannah Gerke

The U.S.’s First-Ever Fossil Fuel Infrastructure Ban Is Even More Important Than It Seems

A refinery community in Washington passed a ban on constructing new fossil fuel infrastructure, becoming the first county in the U.S. to enact such a policy. It’s a policy exactly in line with what science has shown is necessary to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement.Read more...
Tags: Energy, Science, Washington, Environment, Articles, Fuel, Energy industry, Fossil Fuels, Fossil fuel divestment, Energy Development, Oil Refinery, Energy Economics, Phillips 66, Pete Erickson, Resource Economics, Matt Krogh

Cozy Futurism – False Choices Without Substance

There is a new meme called “Cozy Futurism” which is pretending that there a choice between colonizing Mars and fixing Earth-based poverty, inequality and homelessness. I think they are... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]
Tags: Energy, Space, Science, Technology, Climate Change, Environment, Future, World, Innovation, Mars, Colonization

Here Are the 5 Major Regions Literally on Fire Right Now

Geologists have debated whether to call this era the anthropocene, a geological period where humans are the dominant force reshaping the planet rather than natural processes.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Fire, Articles, Nature, Wildfires, Wildfire, Santa, Costa Brava, All, Emergency Management, Natural Resources Canada, Diablo, Hazards, Fire Prevention, Yellowstone Fires

'World's Most Powerful' Tidal Turbine Starts Cranking Out Energy

When you hear the word “turbine,” in conversation, chances are good you’re picturing the same sort of giant windmill-esque apparatuses jutting out of the ground, turning wind into good, clean, fuel. But there’s a new kind of turbine on the block—tidal turbines, that jut out from the ocean and let the water’s currents…Read more...
Tags: Energy, Science, Environment, Sustainable Development, Andrew Scott, Tidal Power, Energy Technology, Marine Energy, European Marine Energy Centre, Energy Conversion, Tidal Stream Generator, Tidal Farm, Ocean Power In New Zealand

Sweet Tooth Season 2 Is Set to Give Us More Animal-Hybrid Adventures at Netflix

Some extra saccharine news to report this morning: Netflix has renewed Sweet Tooth for a second season of apocalyptic adventures.Read more...
Tags: Science, Robert Downey Jr, Biology, Environment, Netflix, Hybrid, Sweet Tooth, Jeff Lemire, Gus, James Brolin, Dania Ramirez, Susan Downey, Neil Sandilands, Jim Mickle, Adeel Akhtar, Beth Schwartz

Tennis Star Feared Extreme Heat at the Tokyo Olympics Could Kill Him

The Tokyo Olympics continue to be an unmitigated climate disaster. It was so hot and humid on Wednesday that Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev thought he could die.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Football, Sports, Tennis, Olympics, Novak Djokovic, Tokyo, Heat Index, Earth Sciences, Marketa Vondrousova, Humidity, Urban Heat Island, Heat Stroke, Daniil Medvedev, The Olympics

‘It’s a Miracle That We Are Still Alive’: Inside Sardinia’s Terrifying Firestorm

What had been a rich Mediterranean landscape of maquis, ancient olive trees, and ruby vineyards is now a charred skeletal tangle clinging to hills above the pristine Sardinian sea.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Pollution, Plants, Mario, Wildfire, Mediterranean, Sardinia, Emergency Management, Gianni, Olive, Fire Prevention, FireStorm, Canadair, Ecological Succession, Carmela Cocco

Tsunami Warnings Lifted After 8. 2 Earthquake 60 Miles Off Alaska

An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, roughly 60 miles (97 kilometers) southeast of the town of Chignik, triggering a tsunami warning for large parts of Alaska early Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Earthquake, Alaska, Earthquakes, Geophysics, Tsunami, Earth Sciences, Mike Baker, National Tsunami Warning Center, Chignik, Disaster Accident, Warning Systems, Tohoku Earthquake And Tsunami, Indian Ocean Earthquake And Tsunami

8.2 Earthquake Just 60 Miles From Alaska Coast Triggers Tsunami Warning

An 8.2 magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Alaska, roughly 60 miles southeast of the town of Chignik, triggering a tsunami warning for large parts of Alaska early Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Tsunami Warning System.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Alaska, Earthquakes, Seismology, Tsunami, Natural Disasters, Mike Baker, National Tsunami Warning Center, Chignik, Alaska Earthquake, Disaster Accident, Warning Systems, Aleutian Islands Earthquake, Miles From Alaska Coast Triggers Tsunami Warning

Gross, Sad Things Happening to Pacific Northwest Salmon Due to Heat Wave

Shocking new video shows that though the record heat subsided in the Pacific Northwest earlier this month, the impacts are still rippling throughout ecosystems.Read more...
Tags: Science, Washington, Environment, Fish, Salmon, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Columbia River, Snake River, Sockeye Salmon, Heat Wave, Geography Of The United States, States Of The United States, Oncorhynchus, Cold Water Fish, Wild And Scenic Rivers Of The United States

New Lightweight Rocket Fuel Tank Ditches Metal for Carbon Fiber and Plastic

With the support of the European Space Agency, German aerospace company MT Aerospace has developed a unique design for a small-scale rocket fuel tank made of a carbon-fiber reinforced plastic. The tank can hold liquid hydrogen and oxygen without leaking and without the use of a metal liner.Read more...
Tags: Science, Environment, Chemistry, Materials, European Space Agency, Textiles, Hydrogen Vehicle, Fuel Tank, Cryogenics, Carbon Fibers, MT Aerospace, Daniel Neuenschwander, Synthetic Fibers, Allotropes Of Carbon, Fuel Containers, Space Shuttle External Tank

Extreme weather will be the norm and UK is not prepared, report warns

Last year was first to be in top 10 for heat, rain and sunshine, as scientists say UK’s mild climate is at an endExtremes of weather will strike the UK more frequently owing to the climate crisis, scientists said after data showed that last year was one of the warmest, as well as one of the wettest and sunniest, on record.Last year was the first to figure in the top 10 for heat, rain and hours of sunshine, in records stretching back more than a century, as moderate British weather is rapidly bec...
Tags: UK, Science, Climate Change, Environment, UK News, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Met Office, Extreme Weather

Extreme weather will be the norm and UK is not prepared, scientists warn

Last year was first to be in top 10 for heat, rain and sunshine, as scientists say UK’s mild climate is at an endExtremes of weather will strike the UK more frequently owing to the climate crisis, scientists said after data showed that last year was one of the warmest, as well as one of the wettest and sunniest, on record.Last year was the first to figure in the top 10 for heat, rain and hours of sunshine, in records stretching back more than a century, as moderate British weather is rapidly bec...
Tags: UK, Science, Climate Change, Environment, UK News, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Met Office, Extreme Weather