Posted on Sep 11, 2022 in Planet Earth, Science, Science News
This weekend’s stories include A newly-discovered exoplanet orbiting a cool star is remarkably like Earth to The true story of when Congress almost released wild hippos into the Louisiana bayou, and much more.
A newly-discovered exoplanet orbiting a cool star is remarkably like Earth. “The more we look out at the universe, the more it seems our home planet isn’t as unique as we thought. Recently, an international team of scientists announced the discovery of two new exoplanets that are each about 40 percent larger than Earth — and they say these distant worlds would make prime targets for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), in part because one of them may have a climate similar to Earth, reports Salon.com.
Huge satellite could outshine all stars and planets in the night sky–Astronomers are concerned that the BlueWalker 3 satellite, which will use an antenna the size of a squash court to beam internet to mobile phones, could outshine everything in the night sky except for the moon, reports New Scientist.
Predatory Bacteria Are Fierce, Ballistic and Full of Potential–Bacterial predators fight like wolves, torpedoes and vampires, and they could provide the next antibiotics, reports Scientific American.
1.8m-year-old tooth of early human found on dig in Georgia –Student’s find provides new evidence region may be one of first places early humans settled outside Africa. “The tooth was discovered near the village of Orozmani, which lies about 60 miles south-west of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, and is near Dmanisi, where human skulls dated to 1.8m years old were found in the late 1990s and early 2000s,” reports The Guardian.
Giant blobs in Earth’s mantle may be driving a ‘diamond factory’ near our planet’s core, reports Stephanie Pappas for Space.com. Extreme chemical reactions could explain why Earth’s middle layer has so much carbon.
Slowing of continental plate movement controlled the timing of Earth’s largest volcanic events, reports Phys.org–“Scientists have shed new light on the timing and likely cause of major volcanic events that occurred millions of years ago and caused such climatic and biological upheaval that they drove some of the most devastating extinction.”
This Artificial Intelligence Learns like a Baby–Engineers at the company DeepMind built a machine-learning system based on research on how babies’ brain works, and it did better on certain tasks than its conventional counterparts, reports Christopher Intagliata for Scientific American.
How will we recognize life elsewhere in the cosmos? asks Conor Feehly for Astronomy.com–With scientists finding new and bizarre exoplanets each year, searching for life as we know it might be too narrow a parameter.
Quantum batteries: Strange technology that could provide instant power–-By leveraging a bizarre property of quantum mechanics called entanglement, quantum batteries could theoretically recharge in a flash. Now, progress is being made towards making them a reality, reports New Scientist.
If Jupiter’s orbit changes, Earth could be more hospitable than it is today, reports Forbes. “”If Jupiter’s position remained the same, but the shape of its orbit changed, it could actually increase this planet’s habitability,” said Pam Vervoort, Earth and planetary scientist and lead study author.”
Why NASA’s moon-bound Artemis 1 mission matters, reports Jack Burns for Salon.com. NASA’s Artemis 1 mission to the Moon sets the stage for routine space exploration beyond Earth.
What Antarctica’s Disintegration Asks of Us, writes Elizabeth Rush, author of “Rising: Dispatches from the American Shore,” a Pulitzer Prize finalist for the New York Times. “Will Miami even exist in 100 years? Thwaites will decide,” she observes.
The true story of when Congress almost released wild hippos into the Louisiana bayou, reports Salon.com–Congress was one vote away from passing the hippo bill. Experts weigh in on what could have been.
$35 Billion Worth of Real Estate Could Be Underwater by 2050–Local governments in coastal states will lose billions of dollars in local tax revenue as rising seas claim developed land reports Thomas Frank, Scientific American.
Curated by The Daily Galaxy Editorial Staff
Read about The Daily Galaxy editorial team here