A huge "smokestorm" from blazing Canadian wildfires made headlines around the world recently. Now, NASA imagery shows the smoke was so thick and widespread it was visible to a spacecraft nearly a million miles from Earth.The image was acquired by NASA’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) on NOAA’s DSCOVR satellite on May 20, 2023. A gigantic swirl of smoke, described as a "smoke cyclone/smokestorm" by climate scientist Daniel Swain, is clearly visible. Not quite as visible is the fu ...read more
Bumblebee bats – aka Kitti’s hog-nosed bats, named after discoverer Kitti Thonglongya – are among the rarest bats in the world, and certifiably the smallest mammals, according to Guinness World Records. They cluster around a few caves in Thailand and Myanmar, most notably those along the Khwae Noi River.Here are five facts about the world's smallest mammal. 1. How Big Is the Smallest Mammal in the World?(Credit: Getty images/VenusARC)The delicate flyers measure up to 1.3 inches from head t ...read more
After pummeling Guam on Wednesday, Super Typhoon Mawar has strengthened into one of the most powerful tropical cyclones ever recorded in the month of May. For a time on Friday, May 26, Mawar howled with maximum sustained winds of 185 miles per hour. That has made it 2023's strongest storm so far. It's also stronger than any of 2022's tropical cyclones. With gusts approaching 210 miles per hour, Mawar has pushed up waves nearly 65 feet tall, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center.A stunnin ...read more
As the old saying — often attributed to Bette Davis — has it, “Getting old ain’t for sissies.” For most people, growing old is a lot better if they can stay in their own homes as they age, something called “aging in place.” But for many older people, especially those with some degree of cognitive impairment, staying at home has not been a realistic option. The good news is modern technology might be changing that. Data-Driven Home Care DevicesFor more than a decade, researchers at ...read more
Much of what your average person knows about ancient cultures comes down to a handful of artifacts.We know the ancient Egyptians partly through the Bust of Nefertiti and the Rosetta Stone. We know the Anglo-Saxons partly through the helmet and treasure left at Sutton Hoo.But what are some of the most significant treasures from the ancient Maya civilization?For those who aren’t as familiar with this culture, we’ve enlisted the help of Elizabeth Paris, an archaeologist at the University of Cal ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine
