While lightning can, in fact, strike the same place twice, if it strikes enough sand, it can create glass. That process — turning something into glass — is called vitrification. In this case, the sand heats up and liquefies, then rapidly cools into a glasslike state. Vitrification pops up all over, beyond traditional glass. Fertility experts use extreme cooling to vitrify immature human eggs and embryos, better preserving them. We also vitrify some radioactive waste for safe storage ...read more
Myself and two of my colleagues went up to see what was going on. There were a number of cracks on this granite dome, and there was a crack in the dam; we were all discussing what the repairs might be and that sort of thing. One of the guys said, “Hey, besides these cracks up on top of the dome, we noticed there are some cracks down there on the side.”
The dome is flat on top, and it steepens on the sides that go down to a creek, about 50 feet from the dome’s top. There was a l ...read more
During true polar wander, the location of the Earth’s spin axis, and therefore the north and south poles, shift relative to the rest of the planet. (Credit: Groves/Discover Magazine; Earth, Pixabay; sun, Wikipedia Commons)
Geologists at Rice University have uncovered evidence that suggests Earth’s spin axis was in a different spot millions of years ago, a phenomenon called “true polar wander.” The change, which occurred sometime in the past 12 million years, would have ...read more
The InSight mission team rejoices in Mission Control after the probe successfully landed on Mars. (Credit: NASA)
InSight on Mars
November 26 at 2:54 ET, NASA’s InSight lander touched down successfully on the martian surface. Now, once the dust settles around the landing site in Elysium Planitia, the probe will get to work expanding our understanding of the Red Planet — specifically, what’s inside of it.
After initially landing, InSight, short for Interior Exploration usi ...read more
“Eels in the Stream” is an especially stirring chapter. We learn about the gap of knowledge about glass eels and the urgency for studying their life cycles as their numbers in lotic systems mysteriously dwindle. Citizen scientists volunteer in counting eels caught by mops set across ten Hudson River tributaries. Their work begins to answer big questions. Do water temperatures, tide cycles, and precipitation affect eel migration? Why do eel populations vary over time ...read more
In this Oct. 10, 2018 photo, He Jiankui is reflected in a glass panel as he works at a computer at a laboratory in Shenzhen in southern China’s Guangdong province. He helped make world’s first genetically edited babies: twin girls whose DNA he said he altered. He revealed it Monday, Nov. 26, in Hong Kong to one of the organizers of an international conference on gene editing. (Credit: AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
A Chinese researcher says he used the gene editing technology CRISPR t ...read more
InSight’s first photo from the martian surface. (Credit: NASA)
Touchdown on Mars
NASA’s InSight lander has endured almost seven months in space, traveling over 300 million miles in a strange but carefully calculated path from Earth to Mars. After it’s lengthy journey, the probe has finally and successfully touched down on the martian surface.
The InSight probe launched May 5 from the Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast. With a host of scien ...read more
From atmospheric entry to landing, InSight will take about seven minutes to reach its final destination. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
NASA’s InSight lander has been on its way to Mars since May. Now, after six months and 301 million miles (485 million kilometers), InSight is set to touch down on the Red Planet’s surface at 2:54 P.M. Eastern Time this afternoon. The entire process, from atmospheric entry to landing, will take only about seven minutes.
Final Descent
InSight’ ...read more
Many news outlets all but ignored a crucial part: the urgent need to adapt to changes already underway and in the pipeline
Research shows that wildfires in the western United States are already burning hotter, wider, and more frequently, thanks in large measure to human-caused climate change. Shown here is the 2018 Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park. (Source: National Park Service, Glacier National Park)
The White House released a massive scientific report on climate ...read more
President Trump falsely uses frigid weather to cast doubt on human-caused warming
This global anomaly map compares temperatures in October 2018 to the 1951 to 1980 base period. (Source: NASA GISTEMP)
It sure is cold outside — at least in the northeastern United States. In fact, some portions of the region could experience their coldest Thanksgiving on record.
Blame it on an Arctic blast that is sending temps plummeting to levels normally associated with the d ...read more
