Dust partially obscures a distant quasar in this artist’s illustration. (Credit: NASA/ESA/G.Bacon, STScI)
With the help of two extremely bright quasars located more than 7 billion light-years away, researchers recently bolstered the case for quantum entanglement — a phenomenon Einstein described as “spooky action at a distance” — by eliminating one classical alternative: The freedom-of-choice loophole.
Quantum Connection
Of the many mindboggling facets of quantum ...read more
What’s in a Name?
After STEVE was first brought to the attention of the scientific community in 2016, it was originally thought to be a proton aurora. The traditional aurorae are largely caused by electron activity, but protons can also be responsible. The catch is, proton aurorae are generally too dark and too diffuse to see, but STEVE is a well-defined, clearly visible violet band stretching thousands of miles long (east-west) and tens of miles wide (north-south).
The aurora borealis gl ...read more
Photo: flickr/ NASA Goddard Photo and Video
[Note from the authors of “Seriously, Science?”: After nine years with Discover, we’ve been informed that this will be our last month blogging on this platform. Despite being (usually) objective scientists, we have a sentimental streak, and we have spent the last few days reminiscing about the crazy, and often funny, science we have highlighted. Therefore, we have assembled a month-long feast of our favorite ...read more
Image:Flickr/moocatmoocat
[Note from the authors of “Seriously, Science?”: After nine years with Discover, we’ve been informed that this will be our last month blogging on this platform. Despite being (usually) objective scientists, we have a sentimental streak, and we have spent the last few days reminiscing about the crazy, and often funny, science we have highlighted. Therefore, we have assembled a month-long feast of our favorite science papers. Enjoy! ...read more
(Credit: Ali Yazdani Laboratory, Princeton University)
You’ve never seen bismuth like this before.
Element 83 on the periodic table, bismuth is a hard, pinkish-white metal that can grow in stunning geometric crystals.
Recently, researchers have been taking a closer look at bismuth, down to the atomic level. Shown here is a simulation of orbiting bismuth surface electrons in a very strong magnetic field.
Note how the electrons are all gathered in clumps inside each potential orbit. S ...read more
Hurricane Katrina, imaged on Sunday, August 28, 2005, near the peak of its intensity. (Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC)
2005 was a crazy year in the North Atlantic. That hurricane season saw not only the most tropical cyclones in recorded history for the region, it also spawned the lowest pressure measured in the Atlantic, the strongest Atlantic hurricane ever, the most hurricanes and the highest accumulated cyclone energy index on record. There were so many storms ...read more
No one mineral dominates the surface of Ryugu, so scientists are still trying to determine its composition. (Credit: JAXA)
Back in June, Japan’s Hayabusa2 mission arrived at the asteroid Ryugu, a near-Earth object that crosses our home world’s orbit. The spacecraft will touch down on the surface in October. But first, scientists must find the most “pristine” location possible – the spot least weathered by the hazards of outer space.
One Hayabusa2’s main goal ...read more
Kenneth Chau, an engineer at the University of British Columbia, helped shine a light on how electrons impart momentum. (Credit: UBC Okanagan)
Quantum mechanics, the science of the smallest stuff, is famously kooky. Light is both a particle and a wave, electrons zip around and travel instantaneously, cats are both alive and dead — it’s hard for our human brains to comprehend. One phenomenon that sort of makes a little sense, if you think about it right, is that light alone can push ...read more
Researchers uncovered the first direct evidence of hominin interbreeding in the bone fragments of a 13-year-old girl from Russia’s Altai Mountains. (Credit: Max Planck Institute)
Humans think of themselves as exceptional among the creatures inhabiting Earth. But it wasn’t always so.
Multiple groups of humans once co-existed with Homo sapiens, including Neanderthals and the mysterious Denisovans. And we did more than simply live alongside them — traces in our DNA reveal t ...read more
