Corals stressed by heat and other environmental conditions can bleach, or kick out their life-giving algae companions. (Credit: sabangvideo/Shutterstock)
It’s been said time and time again that climate change is killing coral reefs. Rising ocean temperatures cause bleaching, which damages huge chunks of coral ecosystems from Australia to the southern United States.
But heat isn’t the only reason reefs are dying. Nitrogen runoff from human activities could be damaging corals ar ...read more
SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft opens its nose cone before docking with the International Space Station on March 3. (Credit: NASA)
Almost three months after SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule blew up during a test on April 20, the results of the investigation place blame on a leak and a faulty valve.
According to a report
released by SpaceX, the “anomaly”
in the test occurred about 100 milliseconds prior to ignition of the last
thrusters. The leak let nitrogen tetroxide, a comb ...read more
Telescopes atop Mauna Kea in Hawaii. (Credit: EastVillage Images/Shutterstock)
The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) has had a tumultuous start. Set to be the world’s largest visible light telescope, construction was slated to begin in 2015 near the peak of Hawaii’s Mauna Kea. But protests over construction on a mountain considered sacred by some Native Hawaiians stalled the project and sent it back to the courts. As a result, the TMT had to restart the lengthy approval process.
T ...read more
Japan's experiment module on ISS, called Kibo. (Credit: NASA)
Astronauts living on the International Space Station spend hours working out every day just to avoid losing serious muscle mass and bone density in microgravity. But will such precautions be needed to live on worlds that are simply lower in gravity than Earth, like the moon and Mars? And what effect would such gravity have on growing children? These questions are almost entirely unanswered by science, but they're vital for humani ...read more
Rachel Seevers shows off her jellyfish-inspired propulsion device at ISEF. (Credit: Chris Ayers, Society for Science & the Public)
Seventeen-year-old Rachel Seevers waited nervously at the 2019 International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). The high school senior was about to demonstrate a new kind of underwater propulsion system she’d created and tested in her parents’ basement. But no one came to talk to her. So, Seevers tried an experiment. She and a nearby male partici ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine