“Planet Earth Report” provides descriptive links to headline news by leading science journalists about the extraordinary discoveries, technology, people, and events changing our knowledge of Planet Earth and the future of the human species.
Physicists Say That a Fifth Dimension Could Be on the Horizon –Our understanding of the universe might need a reset, reports Interesting Engineering.
Why haven’t humans reached Mars? –Our neighboring planet only sits 34 billion miles away, so what’s the big hold up? asks Astronomy.com
What the world will look like 4°C warmer –Will your grandchildren live in cities on Antarctica? asks Big Think.
Electrons May Very Well Be Conscious, reports Nautilus –“Last year, the cover of New Scientist ran the headline, “Is the Universe Conscious?” Mathematician and physicist Johannes Kleiner, at the Munich Center for Mathematical Philosophy in Germany, told author Michael Brooks that a mathematically precise definition of consciousness could mean that the cosmos is suffused with subjective experience. “This could be the beginning of a scientific revolution,” Kleiner said, referring to research he and others have been conducting.”
Is the universe a self-learning AI? –To solve the big mysteries in physics, we need to embrace fresh perspectives, says cosmologist Stephon Alexander. Here he explains why intuition is so important – and outlines one of his own wild ideas, reports New Scientist.
The Unexplained Phenomena of the U.F.O. Report –A new intelligence document examines a hundred and forty-three sightings that might have been caused by errant balloons, foreign drones, or “Other”—a reserved way of saying aliens, reports Gideon Lewis-Kraus for The New Yorker.
The Unsolved Mystery of the Earth Blobs –Researchers peering into Earth’s interior found two continent-sized structures that upend our picture of the mantle. What could their existence mean for us back on Earth’s surface? reports EOS.
Terrifying proto-whale hunted on land and in the sea –Yet another ocean monster has been discovered, reports Big Think
Why it’s so tricky to trace the origin of COVID-19 –A 90-day investigation into the source of SARS-CoV-2 has shown consensus that the virus was not engineered. But many other elements remain a mystery, reports National Geographic.
Physics explains why humans can walk through crowded places and not spill their coffee –reports Physics World. “The Nobel Prize for Physics is almost upon us, but before we know who is heading to Stockholm (maybe via Zoom again), the Ig Nobel prizes take the limelight. Meant to make you “first laugh, then think”, the Ig Nobels were held online yesterday for the second time in a row given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
Why has El Salvador officially adopted bitcoin as its currency? asks New Scientist –“Draft legislation may soon lead Panama down the same path, while China, the US and the UK are investigating launching their own cryptocurrencies. Here’s what you need to know.”
What the world’s most accurate clock can tell us about Earth and the cosmos –It would take 15 billion years for the clock that occupies Jun Ye’s basement lab at the University of Colorado to lose a second—about how long the universe has existed, reportsPhys.org
How land birds cross the open ocean –Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior and University of Konstanz in Germany have identified how large land birds fly nonstop for hundreds of kilometers over the open ocean—without taking a break for food or rest.
The subtle influence of the Moon on Earth’s weather, reports BBC Future –“”Pale Moon rains. Red Moon blows. White Moon neither rains nor snows.” For generations, people have watched the Moon for signs of changes in the weather. The Moon does, in fact, affect the Earth’s climate and weather patterns in several subtle ways.”
One Lab’s Quest to Build Space-Time Out of Quantum Particles, reports Adam Becker for Quanta –“For over two decades, physicists have pondered how the fabric of space-time may emerge from some kind of quantum entanglement. In Monika Schleier-Smith’s lab at Stanford University, the thought experiment is becoming real.”
How the Delta variant dominates Mu, reports Eileen Drage O’Reilly for Axios –“The WHO recently labeled Mu (B.1.621 and first discovered in Colombia) a variant of interest as preliminary data indicated it may better elude immunity from prior infection or vaccination.”
TikTok tics: when Tourette’s syndrome went viral –Once limited in range, mass hysteria can now spread across the globe in an instant, reports Big Think.
The World’s Oldest Known Forest Was Not Like We Imagined, The fossilized web of a 385-million-year-old root network has scientists reimagining what the world’s first forests might once have looked like, reports SciAlert.
Who Was King before Tyrannosaurus? Uzbek Fossil Reveals New Top Dino –University of Tsukuba researchers have described a new apex predator from the lower Upper Cretaceous of Central Asia, Ulughbegsaurus uzbekistanensis, which coexisted with a smaller tyrannosauroid
A Huge, Unknown Cambrian Bug Fossil Has Been Found in The Eerie Burgess Shale –Amid the swarms of small surreal things scuttling and swimming across planet Earth 500 million years ago, a giant loomed, reports ScienceAlert.