SNAPSHOT: Musicians Don Motion Capture Devices to Reveal How Bands Synchronize
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Month: January 2019
'Hot Jupiter' Exoplanets May Be Born Uncomfortably Close to Their Stars
Hot Jupiters are massive gas giant planets circling their suns at a fraction of the Earth-Sun distance in our own solar system.(Credit: ESA/ATG medialab, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO) Today, astronomers have numerous extrasolar systems to study, but most look very different from our own. Determining how these solar systems — and ours — formed is challenging. New research presented at the 233rd Meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, Washington, on January 8 lends credence to a ...read more
Radio Jets from the Milky Way’s Black Hole Could be Pointing Right at Earth
This image shows different views of Sagittarius A. The top two images are simulations of its scattered and unscattered light, while the bottom two show real images taken by a telescope array. (Credit: S. Issaoun, M. Mościbrodzka, Radboud University/ M. D. Johnson, CfA) We’ve spent decades trying to decode our supermassive black hole, but crucial clues could’ve been in front of us all along. Using an array of 13 radio telescopes, astronomers from the Max Planck Institute were a ...read more
How Does Wildlife Survive Winter's Freezing Temperatures?
Yes, I am a bit chilly, why? (Credit: tim elliott/Shutterstock.com) Anyone who’s walked their dog when temperatures are frigid knows that canines will shiver and favor a cold paw – which partly explains the boom in the pet clothing industry. But chipmunks and cardinals don’t get fashionable coats or booties. In fact, wildlife can succumb to frostbite and hypothermia, just like people and pets. In the northern United States, the unfurred tails of opossums are a common casualty ...read more
Cloudless, Methane Rain Falls on Titan's North Pole
A near-infrared color image of Titan’s north pole, taken by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. A new study using Cassini observations reveals rainfall. (Credit: NASA) NASA’s Cassini orbiter captured the north pole on Saturn’s largest moon looking like a wet sidewalk after a bit of rain. This rainfall, which scientists take to signify a change in season on the moon, brought summer to Titan’s northern hemisphere earlier than scientists had predicted. This is the first ...read more
Astronomers May Have Finally Connected Supernovae and Gamma Ray Bursts
This illustration shows gamma rays bursts and their surrounding “cocoons” blasting from a hypernova. (Credit: Anna Serena Esposito) The link between gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and supernovae has been a confusing one. GRBs are highly energetic jets that blast from massive star explosions, but not all powerful supernovae produce them. Their sporadic nature has puzzled scientists for decades, but now, they might finally have some answers. During a recent study of a distant GRB, researche ...read more
Fossil Shark Teeth Found With Sue The T. Rex Are Clues To Ecosystem
Tiny fossil shark teeth trapped in the matrix — that's the matrix of rock and other material that once encased the world's most famous T. rex — represent a new species. The find is helping researchers recreate a Cretaceous environment that might not be what you'd expect. Sue the T. rex has called The Field Museum in Chicago home for nearly 20 years, and the iconic fossil is a huge draw for tourists and paleontologists alike. With more than 90 percent of it recovered, it's ...read more
Bullied Into Bad Science?
There's been an interesting discussion on Twitter about senior scientists who pressure their students or postdocs into scientific misconduct or otherwise poor science: Bullying students into providing the "right" results: research misconduct by proxy? This is probably among the worst but receives little attention — Simon Eickhoff (@INM7_ISN) January 19, 2019 Today, I was made aware of a site called Bullied Into Bad Science which aims to tackle this problem. Founded by behavior ...read more
Why Humans Lost Their Hair and Became Naked and Sweaty
What makes humans stand out among primates? We’re naked and unusually sweaty. Yes, we’re also distinguished by upright walking, big brains and advanced culture. But here I want to focus on our sweaty bare bods. Millions of years back our ancestors were likely as hairy as chimpanzees and gorillas. Over the course of human evolution, our lineage traded its fur coat for a covering of minuscule body hairs and a few ample patches over the head, armpits and nether region. Why we became ...read more
Our Solar System’s Formation Was A Lot Messier Than You Think
When most of us learn about the solar system, it seems like a pretty well-ordered place. Our sun formed first, about five billion years ago, and the planets appeared a little later. As a very general trend, these planets grew larger and less dense the farther from the sun they formed. But this story leaves out the chaotic dynamics and frenetic reshuffling that occurred when our solar system was young. Nature may like order eventually, but that order evolves out of pure cha ...read more