Recent posts by Rick Pantaleo:
Science Scanner: Reaching ‘Point of No Return’ on Global Warming
Scientists attending a global warming conference in London warn the world is close to a point of no return, which will make conditions irreversibly hotter. Scientists at the “Planet Under Pressure Conference” say it’s critical to contain global warming in this decade. Will Steffen, executive director of the Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute, said, […]
Filmmaker James Cameron Makes 1st Solo Dive to Earth’s Deepest Point
This past weekend, filmmaker James Cameron did something that has never been done before. He took a solo trip down to the deepest part of the ocean. In doing so, the man who gave us “Titanic” and “Avatar,” has now gone where only two men have gone before. The last time humans made a successful […]
Designing Human-like Robots
When we talk with someone, words aren’t the only thing that impact our listener. Other subtle factors – such as tone of voice, body language and eye contact – also have powerful communicative potential. Bilge Mutlu, a computer scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, understands and appreciates the power of nonverbal communication. The professor calls […]
Science Scanner: Astronomers Find Jewel in the Cosmos
Astronomers say they’ve found a jewel in the cosmos. It’s a rare, rectangular-shaped galaxy, called LEDA 074886, that resembles an emerald-cut diamond. The scientists were looking around the galaxy NGC 1407 in the Constellation Eridanus – about 70 million light years from Earth – trying to find globular clusters of stars, when they spotted what […]
NASA Unveils Atlas, Catalog of Entire Infrared Sky
A new atlas and catalog of the entire infrared sky were unveiled recently by NASA. The atlas and catalog – which show more than a half-billion stars, galaxies and other objects – were composed from data captured by NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) mission. With the entire release of the sky catalog, the WISE […]
Why We Never See the Far Side of the Moon
Do you ever wonder why we never get to see the far side of the Moon? New research suggests it’s because of the rate at which the moon’s rotation slowed before locking into its current orientation with Earth. Scientists now think the moon was formed from a very large impact, according to Dr. Oded Aharonson, […]
Science Scanner: Previously-Unknown Stone Age People Discovered
An international team of scientists has discovered a previously-unknown Stone Age people. The fossils of human remains, found in south-west China, reportedly offer a rare glimpse of a fairly recent stage of human evolution. The remains of what the scientists call “red-deer” – because they hunted and cooked extinct red deer – were first found […]
Detailed Map Offers Clues About Earth’s Interior
The European Space Agency (ESA) has produced the first global high-resolution map of the boundary area between the Earth’s crust and mantle, which could offer new clues into the dynamics of Earth’s interior. The new map, of what’s called the Mohorovičić discontinuity (Moho), was created with data provided by the GOCE satellite. The Moho boundary […]
What the Massive Japanese Earthquake Sounded Like
Sunday marks the one year anniversary of the magnitude-9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake and tsunami off the eastern coast of Japan. A year later, scientists worldwide continue to sift through huge amounts of data provided by, what they call, the best-recorded earthquake of all time. Seismologist Zhigang Peng, associate professor at Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and […]