Comets are among the most exciting celestial objects to watch. These visitors from the outer reaches of the solar system are basically debris — dust, bits of rock, and frozen gases — left over from its formation. There are a bunch of them out there, too. According to NASA, there are probably billions of comets orbiting the Sun in the Kuiper Belt and the Oort Cloud. And sometimes, one passes close enough to Earth for us to see it. Comet C/2023 A3 peaked in October 2024 and is already startin ...read more
Ever since the ancient Greeks first made observations of the circular Moon and the skies, scientists have known that the Earth is a sphere. We’ve all seen beautiful images of the Earth from space, some photographed by astronauts and others collected remotely by orbiting satellites. So why doesn’t our planet look round when we’re standing in a park or looking out a window?The answer is all about perspective. Humans are pretty tiny creatures living on a really large sphere.An average adult i ...read more
“Aren’t they a little young for that?”This is a question I used to hear regularly from parents when I’d recommend strength training for the kids I worked with, whose ages ranged from 6 to 18 years old, in youth sports. During my four years as a strength and conditioning coach, I often received questions from parents about the pros and cons of strength training– that is, training that involves weight-bearing exercises – for children.Some of the most common questions: Is strength train ...read more
Do you believe in psychics, ghosts, or communication with the dead? If so, you may be experiencing a high level of stress or feel a loss of control over your life, according to a study in PLOS ONE.While the study’s authors took great pains to emphasize that the beliefs in paranormal phenomena are not necessarily caused by stress or feelings of having no control, they point out that the relationship between the two are strong. “Findings support the notion that traditional paranormal belief is ...read more
After the Second World War, 1940s America was awash with radar equipment and experienced technicians who could make it work. That set the scene for the birth of a new field of science – radio astronomy. In 1944, the Dutch astronomer Hendrick van de Hulst predicted that interstellar hydrogen ought to emit electromagnetic radiation with a specific wavelength. He noted that a hydrogen atom contains only a proton and an electron that both have a property known as spin. These particles can spin in ...read more
Author Vishay SinghPosted on Categories Discover Magazine