(Credit: Igor ZH/Shutterstock)
On a basic level, it seems that most of the universe can be divided into two kinds of big objects: stars and planets.
A star is a massive ball of burning gas whose main function is fusing hydrogen into helium. They are formed by huge clouds of gas that eventually come together in sufficient quantities to kick off nuclear reactions.
Planets, in turn, come from the material left around the star after its formation. They form from small bits that clump together ...read more
The new report from the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT) is out: “Information to Action: Strengthening EPA Citizen Science Partnerships for Environmental Protection.” This report is a follow-up to the Council’s first report, “Environmental Protection Belongs to the People.”
There are ten recommendations to the EPA in the report(s). As articulated on the EPA’s website: The Council’s April 2018 report, Information ...read more
Ugh, another sunburn! (Credit: Shutterstock)
Does your skin tend to tan after basking in the sun? If not, blame it, in part, on your genes.
A new study, released Tuesday in Nature Communications, found 10 new pigmentation genes that may determine whether skin ends up tanning or just turning bright red from too much sunlight. These findings could also help pinpoint those likely to develop skin cancer, which is often tied to sun exposure.
Skin cancer is the most common type of canc ...read more
A Regal Jumping Spider. (Credit: Jiri Prochazka/Shutterstock)
Spiders may give you the creeps, but they’re pretty cool critters. They create silk that scientists are still learning from, and use them to spin webs that are natural works of symmetric art.
And, uh, some spiders can jump. That might not seem as cool — and certainly doesn’t help on the creepiness front — but as a team of UK scientists has shown, we could learn a lot from the leaps a spider makes, too.
How to ...read more
Verlinde believes that this is an indication that he is on to something.
“That fact kind of hints that it has something to do with the Hubble expansion [of the universe], which at present is due to the presence of dark energy,” he says.
The Hubble constant describes the observed accelerating expansion of the universe. This acceleration is unexplained, but has been attributed to “dark energy,” which Verlinde says can be used to explain away the idea of dark matter.
“ ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
