Climate Change is Pushing Tropical Cyclones Poleward

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

Tropical cyclones are drifting northward thanks to climate change. (Credit: ESA/NASA-A.GERST) Typhoons are becoming more destructive at northern latitudes, according to the first long-term study to document how the storms in East Asia are drifting toward the poles. As climate change expands the tropics and warms sea surface temperatures, those conditions are triggering cyclones to form further north, scientists say. That means devastating typhoons will increasingly threaten cities and towns on ...read more

When the Lights First Turned on in the Universe

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

The universe in its infancy wasn’t the bright place we know today. Credit: NASA/ESA The Big Bang, as many cosmologists like to point out, was not very banging. Nothing exploded. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t a busy and exciting event. The rush of inflation was a powerful outpouring of energy, which certainly included light. And yet, the energy contained in that early universe was such that light couldn’t even escape. For light to be seen, by telescopes or eyes of ...read more

Forget Streetlights, China is Launching Artificial Moons in Urban Areas

Posted on Categories Discover Magazine

(Credit: NASA) In one Chinese city, costly streetlights could soon be a thing of the past. By 2020, the Tian Fu New Area Science Society plans to launch an artificial moon to light up the night sky. If the plan goes through, the so-called “illumination satellite” would orbit above the Chinese city of Chengdu and glow in conjunction with the actual moon, but shine eight times brighter. The organization says it will launch three more satellites in 2022 — potentially replacing s ...read more