June 2015 Science Images
Pope’s Encyclical Draws Reactions from Climate Change Scientist and Skeptic
In the 1600’s, Galileo angered the Roman Catholic Church for supporting the Copernican system that placed the Sun at the center of the solar system, with Earth and other planets circling it. At the time, most people subscribed to the geocentric system, which had Earth at the center of the universe, with the sun, planets […]
Science Scanner: Cat Videos Can Help You, Permanent Dust Cloud Surrounds Moon
Watching Cat Videos Can Give You a Boost You can hardly surf the Internet without stumbling across a cat video, and new research suggests those videos could actually be good for you. Of all the categories of YouTube video content, videos of cats have had more views per video. It’s been suggested that there were […]
NOAA Scientists Hope to Unlock Secrets of Nighttime Thunderstorms
Most thunderstorms get their incredible energy from the sun’s heat, but some of the storms gain their strength at night, baffling scientists. To learn how these storms intensify, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – NOAA plans to keep 20 of its scientists up late at night for a large intensive field operation in […]
Calling ET: NASA Expands Search for Alien Life
The search for life beyond our own solar system has taken a major step forward with a new interdisciplinary research coalition devoted to the search for life in the cosmos. Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) will be made up of research teams from several NASA facilities, 10 U.S. universities and two research institutions, according […]
Giant Magma Reservoir Found Beneath Yellowstone Supervolcano
Yellowstone National Park’s many geothermal features, including its estimated 10,000 hot springs and geysers, draw millions of visitors each year. There’s good reason why the approximately 8,983 square km park has such a high level of geothermal activity. You see, the park sits atop one of the world’s largest active volcanic systems. According to the […]
The Best Science Images – February 2015
Science Scanner – A Fish for Your Wounds? US Megadroughts; Help for MRI Stress
“Megadroughts” May Impact Parts of US in the Late 21st Century California has been contending with one of the most severe droughts on record. Now a new study is predicting that in the second-half of our current century, the U.S. Great Plains and the Southwest, including California, will face what could be considered “mega-drought” conditions […]
Meteorite Reveals Early Solar System Information, Greenland’s Ice Sheet is Melting & Smart Keyboard Adds Layer of Cybersecurity
Meteorite’s Magnetic Memory Reveals its Secret Message A team of British geologists has developed a new way to learn something about the early days of our solar system. Since meteorites are fragmented pieces of asteroids that have fallen to Earth, testing the magnetic field of the meteorite can provide some information about its parent asteroid. […]
Are We Destabilizing our Planetary Life Support System?
Three recently released studies are painting a grim picture for the future of humanity on planet Earth. Professor Will Steffen from the Australian National University and the Stockholm Resilience Centre led some international scientists on two of the studies. Their papers found that the impact of human activity on Earth, such as economic growth/globalization, population […]