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Tech NewsSix More Small Satellites to Study Earth and Space Weather
Six tiny satellites have been approved to join the CubeSat program for NASA’s 2014 fiscal year. Although each satellite measures just 30 by 10 by 10 centimetres, they’re capable of big science. The projects will collect data on terrestrial and space weather, with two particularly focusing on plasma bubbles. http://space.io9.com/cubesats-offer-big-science-in-a-small-box-1586116982/ The CSSWE CubeSat was launched … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidThis is what would happen if Earth stopped spinning right now
Have you ever asked yourself what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning right now? For you it would be like being in a car at 1000 miles per hour and stopping dead in your tracks—you would die instantly. But, believe it or not, it gets even worse after that, as this video explains. The … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech News
The Planet’s Biggest Water Supply Might Be Hidden 400 Miles Below the US
When most of us imagine what the mantle of the Earth is like, we see burning hot rock and magma (and maybe satan hanging out for good measure or something). But scientists have discovered evidence that all that rock may be hiding huge amounts of water—three times the volume of all our oceans combined. The … Continued
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Tech NewsCan You Guess Where On Earth These Unearthly Satellite Images Come From?
The Earth is a strange, beautiful creature in satellite view. The European Space Agency has collected some of its most spectacular and oddest satellite photos, and it’s pretty hard to guess where on Earth these places really are. Here’s a taste of what you’re up against. Be warned—a number of these photos are in false … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech News
We’ve Found Traces of Another World on the Moon
Scientists have discovered traces of another world in rock samples from the Moon—and it’s evidence of the planet that once crashed into Earth to form our rocky satellite. It’s been believed since the 80s that the Moon was created when a planet called Theia hit Earth 4.5 billion years ago. But until now, there hasn’t … Continued
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Tech NewsSploidAre you alone in the Universe?
Are you alone in the Universe? Yes—and no. This video shows that every human is on a journey, growing from a single cell to 50 trillion, carrying DNA that connects us to every living and dead animal that ever existed on Earth, made of atoms that connects us to the Universe itself. These atoms may … Continued
By James Baker -
Tech NewsSploid
NASA makes zoomable Earth using 36,422 selfies from all continents
Not even Ellen DeGeneres can beat this one: NASA asked people to take selfies on Earth Day and humans from Antarctica to Zimbabwe submitted more than 50,000 photos. Of those NASA selected 36,422 photos to create this fully zoomable 3.2 gigapixel image of Earth’s Eastern and Western hemispheres. SPLOID is a new blog about awesome … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech NewsThis Company Uses Earth’s Magnetic Field To See Inside Buildings
In some ways, it’s an ominous pitch. By measuring the “magnetic fingerprint” of any building in the world, the Finnish company IndoorAtlas can conjure up a startlingly precise indoor map of any building. It’s technology that sci-fi has dreamt of for decades. But instead of surveillance, it’s being used for shopping. According to The New … Continued
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Tech News
An Interplanetary Magnetic Dance
The Earth’s magnetic field is the original forcefield, a wall of electromagnetic force that protects us from high-energy charged particles spewed by our sun during solar eruptions. The dance between our field and the sun is dynamic and beautiful. Charged particles impacting on the magnetic field produce aurora. Image credit: N. Tsyanenko The solar wind … Continued
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Tech NewsSploid
Rare view of Earth rising on the Moon taken by lunar orbiter
NASA has released a wonderful—and rare, they say—view of an earthrise in the Moon taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, with the Earth appearing over the Rozhdestvenskiy crater. There’s a GIF of this event in motion. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) experiences 12 “earthrises” every day, however LROC (short for LRO Camera) is almost always … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech NewsSploidSimulation of Saturn passing by Earth on a collision course to the Sun
The always cool Yeti Dynamics has released another brilliant scientific simulation: What would Earth’s sky look like if Saturn went off its orbit to race into the inner solar system on its way to the Sun and our planet was on its path? I just love these impossible but visually arresting scenarios. Of course, aside … Continued
By Jesus Diaz -
Tech NewsHow Many Things Are There?
There aren’t enough humans on Earth to fill the Grand Canyon, and in a lifetime you don’t produce enough saliva to even fill a swimming pool. That suggests that most things around us are countable or measurable: so how many things are there? That question is posed and—kinda—answered in this video by Vsauce. First, though, … Continued
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Tech News
Ballooning in Antarctica
The Balloon Array for Radiation belt Relativistic Electron Losses, or BARREL, launched 20 instrument-laden balloons in the endless day of Antarctic summer. Now the team is home, and the photos of their flying plastic jellyfish exploring the sky for science are fantastic. BARREL is contributing data to understanding the Van Allen belts, two gigantic donuts … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
What Would Happen If the Earth Span So Fast a Day Lasted One Second?
The Earth takes a little under 24 hours to rotates on its axis. But what if that leisurely paced pick up—and up and up and up? In this week’s What If, Randall Munroe decided to answer that exact question. If the Earth rotated so fast that a day lasted a single second, things would go … Continued
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ScienceSpace & Spaceflight
What Will Happen When the Earth’s Magnetic Field Switches
The Earth’s magnetic field protects life on Earth, shielding it from damaging radiation and moderating our climate. So the idea that it could completely flip around, or collapse altogether, should cause us to worry, right? Well, yes and no. Magnetosphere Basics The result of electrical currents generated deep within the Earth through dynamic action, the … Continued
Melissa - TodayIFoundOut.com -
EartherClimate Change
First Breathtaking Images from Europe’s New Sentinel Satellite
The first satellite in the European Space Agency’s new Earth-monitoring Sentinel mission is already sending photos home. The first photos are of land use in Belgium, flooding in Namibia, and glacial retreat and land cover monitoring in Antarctica. Land Use in Belgium The first image from Sentinel-1A: land use around Brussels, Belgium. Image credit: ESA … Continued
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EartherClimate Change
4 Ways Tiny Microbes Changed Life on Earth Forever
This is the microbes’ world—we just live in it. Throughout the history of Earth, microbes have radically reshaped life on the planet, from creating the very air we breath to wiping out almost all life on Earth. Don’t underestimate the power of tiny, tiny microbes populating the Earth trillions of times over. Here are some … Continued
By Sarah Zhang -
Tech NewsSploidThis is how the moon would look in the sky if it were a disco ball
Vsauce’s Michael Stevens answers a great question with the help of Yeti Dynamics: What if the moon was a disco ball? The answer is sad: The mirrors’ specular surface would make the moon almost invisible. However, things really get groovy if you put the disco moon at the same distance as the International Space Station. … Continued
By Jesus Diaz