In Argentina, where beef is a symbol of national pride, a government-led partnership has started certifying certain livestockas carbon neutral. It’s a big step that shouldn’t be underestimated, but getting the certification process right is crucial.The world’s livestock sector is a key driver of climate change, contributing around 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Two-thirdsof agriculture’s annual greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock, with raising cattle for meat typically ...read more
Is or was there life on Mars? That profound question is so complex that it will not be fully answered by the two NASA rovers now exploring it.But because of the literal groundwork the rovers are performing, scientists are finally investigating, in-depth and in unprecedented detail, the planet’s evidence for life, known as its “biosignatures.” This search is remarkably complicated, and in the case of Mars, it is spanning decades.As a geologist, I have had the extraordinary opportunity to wo ...read more
Imagine opening your front door wide and inviting the world to listen in on your most private conversations. Unthinkable, right? Yet, in the digital realm, people inadvertently leave doors ajar, potentially allowing hackers, tech companies, service providers and security agencies to peek into their private communications.Much depends on the applications you use and the encryption standards the apps uphold. End-to-end encryption is a digital safeguard for online interactions. It’s used by many ...read more
In both December 2023 and February 2024, NASA’s Juno spacecraft soared over Jupiter’s moon, Io. Shooting past at a distance of around 930 miles, the twin flybys — the two closest flybys of Io in over 20 years — produced images of the moon’s lava lakes and volcanic plumes, fleshing out our impression of our solar system’s most volcanic world.According to NASA scientists, the images could contribute to our understanding of Io’s volcanism, confirming the patterns and the origins of th ...read more
Words, like biological species, are engaged in what Charles Darwin called a “struggle for existence.” Some have what it takes, earning the right to roll off the next generation of tongues, while others get consigned to the pages of Merriam-Webster — or become forgotten entirely.What sets the survivors apart? A recent study in the journal PNAS, by a team of international researchers, found that many successful English words have three crucial traits: they’re acquired early in life, they r ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine