NASA plans to send humans on a scientific round trip to Mars potentially as early as 2035. The trip will take about six to seven months each way and will cover up to 250 million miles (402 million kilometers) each way. The astronauts may spend as many as 500 days on the planet’s surface before returning to Earth.NASA’s Artemis program plans to return humans to the Moon this decade to practice and prepare for a Mars mission as early as the 2030s. While NASA has several reasons for pursuing su ...read more
Hurricane Helene caused deadly and destructive flooding when it swept through the Southeast on Sept. 26-29, 2024. Across a broad swath of western North Carolina, where the worst flooding occurred, the amount of rainfall exceeded levels that would be expected on average only once every 1,000 years.But this wasn’t the first 1,000-year rainstorm in North Carolina this year. In mid-September, an unnamed slow-moving storm produced more than a foot of rainfall closer to the Atlantic coast. This stor ...read more
On the arid and seemingly sterile surface of the Atacama Desert lies an invaluable treasure of history and culture: thousands of ancient geoglyphs etched on the slopes of the hills, silent witnesses to the caravan routes of pre-Hispanic peoples.Gonzalo Pimentel, archaeologist and president of the Atacama Foundation, describes them as accurate maps leading to the Pacific Ocean and records of memories, habits, and customs. Colossal human figures, llamas, birds, and enigmatic geometric shapes have ...read more
Of the thousands of insect species crawling and flying around the world, ladybugs probably rank among some of the cutest. These tiny, rotund creatures scuttle about on plant leaves, easily distinguishable thanks to their sports car red and small black spots. Sometimes, they might even land on you – if you’re lucky. There are some 5,000 species of ladybugs on Earth, though the most common type in North America is the convergent ladybug. Contrary to the name, they’re not actually “bugs” ...read more
Summer may be over in the Western Hemisphere by now, but that doesn’t mean that sunburn stops for the season. Many of us might be familiar with the heated skin and gnarly new tanlines that follow us home after a day spent under the sun – but what happens when sunburn becomes serious?While “sun poisoning” is not an official medical diagnosis, it’s a term many doctors use to refer to this kind of intense sunburn. If you haven’t heard of it before, it might be even more difficult to gau ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine