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
Map of shaking felt by the M7.3 earthquake in Venezuela on August 21, 2018. USGS.
Venezuela was hit by a M7.3 earthquake today, causing extensive damage across the northern part of the country as well as nearby Trinidad & Tobago. Shaking was felt as far away at Bogotá, Martinique and Guyana, thousands of kilometers from the earthquake’s epicenter. This temblor may have the largest earthquake to strike Venezuela since a M7.7 hit off of Caracas in 1900.
Video and images of th ...read more
These rare-earth oxides are used as tracers to determine which parts of a watershed are eroding. Clockwise from top center: praseodymium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, samarium, and gadolinium. (Credit: Peggy Greb, US Department of Agriculture)
Most Americans use rare earth elements every day – without knowing it, or knowing anything about what they do. That could change, as these unusual materials are becoming a focal point in the escalating trade war between the U.S. and China.
Stanley ...read more
Waiting by the Phone
For now, engineers continue to listen to Mars for signals from Opportunity at her programmed fault check-in intervals. They also send prompts to the rover and listen for a response during these times. The team has also essentially widened the net — the radio science group at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is listening daily for Opportunity on a broader range of frequencies than normal, using specialized radio equipment focused on Mars during most of the daylight hours a ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
