The much anticipated 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is here, and with ocean heat setting records, plus a looming La Niña, it may well take an appalling toll. Tropical cyclones are fueled by oceanic heat, and right now, the gas tank is overflowing.As University of Miami tropical cyclone expert Brian McNoldy posted to social media the other day, "It's June 1, the first day of Atlantic #HurricaneSeason, and the ocean heat content averaged in the Main Development Region is as high as it normally wo ...read more
These were plenty of legends of societies that once thrived in a distant time and place. Some have been found and excavated so that we can begin to understand how these civilizations of yesteryear might have lived. But some exist only in legend. Real or fantasy, here are some of the ancient societies that inspired many, and some that were never found. 1. Machu Picchu(Credit: Sharan Prasad Anumolu/Shutterstock) High in the mountains of Peru stands Machu Picchu, a 15th-century citadel that was a ...read more
Mars is between 33 and 249 million miles away from Earth, depending on the time of year you make the journey. That comes out to about two years of travel.Once you get there, conditions on the Red Planet are brutal, with temperatures ranging from around -248 degrees Fahrenheit to 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Just getting there is a feat that seems difficult to imagine, yet once astronauts make the trek, they’re in for an intense workload.According to NASA, plans are in the works for travel to Mars as ...read more
From crucial vaccines to new insights about diseases, nearly all biomedical research starts with the study of human cell samples in a lab. All of these samples are originally taken from human patients. But when they make their way to the lab, most of these samples — including the HeLa cell line, one of the world’s most prominent cell samples — are viewed independently from the person they were sampled from. Who Was Henrietta Lacks?These samples don’t exist in a vacuum. Notably, the H ...read more
The concept of sunken treasure has captivated the imagination of pirates, divers, and the general public for likely as long as ships have sunk to the bottom of the sea. Part of the draw is that there are purportedly still a plethora of famous lost shipwrecks out there, such as the undiscovered Portuguese Flor do Mar, a treasure ship that was sunk in 1511 off the coast of Indonesia bearing dozens of chests of gold, precious gems and perfumes that might be worth billions today.But other lost treas ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine