Infrared: IPAC/NASA Ultraviolet: STScI (NASA)
There’s a star 1,300 light years away that has exhibited some of the strangest behavior ever seen: something dims 20 percent of its light, something that is beyond the size of a planet. It’s called KIC 8462852, but most people shorthand it Tabby’s Star, or Boyajian’s Star for its discoverer, Tabitha Boyajian.
Here’s the thing, though. Absolutely nobody knows why it’s dimming that much. It could be a massive fleet ...read more
A shield-snouted brown snake (Pseudonaja aspidorhyncha) from Northern Territory, Australia. Photo by Christopher Watson
There’s an age old belief that baby snakes are more dangerous than adult ones. There are generally two proposed reasons why this could be: either a) young snakes have yet to learn how to control how much venom they inject, so they deliver all of their venom per bite, or b) that because the snakes are smaller, they need more potent toxins to successful ...read more
Up until 1963, both the U.S. and Soviet governments conducted over 500 atmospheric nuclear weapons tests. They blew up these weapons anywhere from 16 miles above Earth to 250, well into space. The resulting fallout is estimated to have raised levels of thyroid cancer across the country, and could one day even serve as a marker for the Anthropocene—the age of humans.
But the effects of these tests spread far beyond the surface of the Earth. A nuclear explosion creates a storm of charg ...read more
To find a month when the global average temperature over the land and oceans was below average, you have to go all the way back to December 1984, according to the latest monthly analysis from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Including April 2017, that makes it 388 straight months in which the global temperature has been warmer than the 20th century average.
Like NASA's independent analysis released earlier this week, NOAA finds that last month was the second warmest ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
