New Asteroid Discovery Reveals Start of Earth’s Incredible History

Posted on January 30, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Small rocks in the universe revealed that life on earth could have come from asteroids. And life outside of earth suggests that we are one step closer than we thought.

A bold NASA mission known as OSIRIS-REX five years ago The Bennu asteroid is on a course close to colliding with earth, and in the process, it will grab a small sample. A small capsule, containing 120 grams (4 ounces) of asteroid material, landed in the Utah Desert in late 2023.

Since then, scientists have been eagerly waiting to hear the contents of the capsule. Currently, scientists have confirmed that the asteroid contains not only organic matter but also all the components that make up DNA.

Sample return capsules from NASA’s OSIRIS-REX mission are found immediately after landing in the Utah Desert on September 24, 2023. Photo Credit: NASA/Keegan Barber

Bennu, currently orbiting close to the earth, is an ancient fragment of our solar system, with its parent asteroid formed about 4.5 billion years ago.

“We now know from Bennu that the ingredients of life are really interesting and complicated,” said Dr. Tim McCoy, the MET stone curator at the National Natural History Museum in the United States and co-leader of new papers.

“We have found the next step on the road to life.”

The breakthroughs suggest that life was formed on earth after asteroid collisions, but this process also occurs throughout the universe, whether through parent bodies or other asteroid collisions. It suggests a new beginning.

How can Bennu help in forming life?

The most important discovery is that Bennu seems to host “Brinny Bros,” which allows minerals and salts to mix. This compound developed into complex structures that form essential ingredients of life.

Researchers suggest that saltwater outside of earth may be an essential environment for birthing organic compounds throughout the universe, including on earth. In addition to the potential of water, these saltwater environments can facilitate prebiotic organic synthesis processes, where building blocks for life can come together.

Surprisingly, the absence of liquid water plays a vital role here. While liquid water is essential for life, chemical reactions needed to form complex structures require a loss of water in the process.

So what mixture forms this life?

The survey results will be published in the journals Nature and Nature Astronomy. Researchers around the world analyzed a small part of the sample using an electron microscope, enabling inspection at a resolution equal to a human hair.

One paper led by NASA scientists found that Bennu boasts a more extensive collection of organic matter than earth.

“It may seem natural to think that earth, hosting life, has the most widespread collection of organic materials in the solar system,” said Dr. Douglas Vacoc, Research Organization Messaging President of METI (Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence), to BBC Science Focus.

The first museum exhibit of a sample from the Bennu Asteroid was announced at the National Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States. This is a rock-filled fragment with mass. Photo Credit: James di Loret and Philip R. Lee, Smithsonian

The impressive asteroid collection contains 14 of the 20 amino acids found in all living organisms (protein building blocks), including individual non-protein amino acids not known or existing in known biology. The sample also contains all five nucleic bases (adenine, guanine, cytosine, thymine, uracil) that form the code of DNA and RNA.

“There are no signs that Bennu’s amino acids were created by living organisms, but as we know, some essential building blocks for life are abundant on this asteroid,” Vacoch said.

How close are we to “life”?

Researchers have yet to understand the complex structure formed at Bennu’s core upon impact.

“We now have a basic building block moving along this path, but how far along this process can progress is unknown,” they said.

It’s not clear if Bennu’s conditions can advance to the next stage of biological evolution.

“Amino acids alone are not enough for life,” said Professor Lewis Dartnell to BBC Science Focus. “These acids need to bond into long chains to start protein production or bind to DNA. The next step in the origin of life requires not just building blocks but assembling these blocks.”

“To create life, these building blocks must begin the production of molecules like proteins and DNA, forming them into cells,” he added.

What is needed beyond organic molecules and water to reach this point? “The missing elements are energy sources like photosynthesis or chemical energy,” said Dartnell. “Additionally, a long period is required to move from simple amino acids to proteins, DNA, cells, and life spans.”

A scanning electron microscope image of carbonated sodium venous in Bennu’s sample – Photo Credit: Rob Wandel, Tim Gooding, and Tim McCoy, Smithsonian

This discovery represents a significant leap in understanding Bennu’s nature.

“By examining Bennu’s chemical composition, we have found clues to its origins and recent discoveries point to its roots in the outer solar system,” said Vacoch.

Bennu’s contents may set a new baseline for exploring other cosmic bodies. The sample was meticulously preserved before analysis, ensuring the integrity of the salt content.

“There is no substitute for traveling to asteroids, collecting pristine samples, and returning them to an Earth research institute,” Vacoch stated. “OSIRIS-REX serves as proof of profound discoveries from sample return missions.”

If the fragments had fallen to earth on their own, the salt content would have been disrupted in the earth’s atmosphere. But with this knowledge, McCoy and his colleagues may find evidence of this saltwater in existing MET stone collections.

“This is like finding what you were looking for on a mission,” McCoy said. “We have found something unexpected. It’s the best reward for all kinds of exploration.”

About our experts

Dr. Douglas Vacoch, President of the Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI), is a research and educational organization that sends signals to nearby stars. He is a member of the International Space Law Research Institute and serves as a general editor for Springer’s Space and Society series.

Professor Lewis Dartnell is a Professor of Science Communication at the University of Westminster, specializing in space biology and the exploration of microbial life on Mars. He is the author of Origin: How Earth Created Us and The Knowledge: How to Rebuild Our World from Scratch.

Read more:

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

New study suggests Earth’s recent minimoon originated from the moon

Posted on January 23, 2025 by Igor Mitreski

Near-Earth asteroid 2024 PT5 is in an Earth-like orbit and remained very close to Earth for several months at the end of 2024.

2024 PT5 captured a brief flyby from September 29 to November 25, 2024. Image credit: University of Colorado.

2024 PT was first detected on August 7, 2024 by the NASA-funded Asteroid Terrestrial Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope at the University of Hawaii in Sutherland, South Africa.

This asteroid poses no danger to Earth, but its orbit around the sun closely matches that of our planet.

The object, which is about 10 meters (33 feet) wide, appears to be composed of rock that broke off from the moon’s surface and was ejected into space after a major impact.

“There was a general idea that this asteroid might have come from the moon, but when we discovered that this asteroid is rich in silicate minerals, it became conclusive proof. The silicate minerals are not the kind found on asteroids, but rather the ones found in the moon’s rocks. Dr. Teddy Kaleta Astronomer at Lowell Observatory.

“It doesn’t seem to have been in space very long, perhaps only a few thousand years, because there was no cosmic weathering to cause its spectrum to turn red.”

Using observations from the Lowell Discovery Telescope and NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, Dr. Kaleta and his colleagues show that the spectrum of sunlight reflected from the surface of 2024 PT does not match its spectrum. showed. A known asteroid type. Instead, the reflected light more closely matched the moon’s rocks.

This discovery doubles the number of known asteroids thought to originate from the Moon.

“Asteroid 469219 Kamooarewa was discovered in 2016 in an Earth-like orbit around the sun, indicating that this asteroid may also have been ejected from the lunar surface after a major impact,” the astronomers said. said.

“As telescopes become more sensitive to smaller asteroids, more potential lunar boulders will be discovered, and scientists studying the moon as well as scientists studying rare asteroid populations will It creates exciting opportunities for everyone.”

“If a lunar asteroid could be directly related to a specific impact crater on the Moon, studying it could provide insight into the cratering process on the pockmarked lunar surface.”

“Also, material collected from deep on the moon’s surface in the form of asteroids passing close to Earth could be available to future scientists for study.”

“This is a story about the moon told by asteroid scientists,” Dr. Kaleta said.

“It’s an unusual situation where we go out to study asteroids and end up wandering into new territory in terms of the questions we can ask for PT5 in 2024.”

of findings On January 14, 2025, Astrophysics Journal Letter.

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Theodore Caleta others. 2025. On the origin of the near-Earth asteroid moon2024 PT5. APJL 979, L8; doi: 10.3847/2041-8213/ad9ea8

Source: www.sci.news

How are human activities impacting the Earth’s tilt and rotation, and what are the implications for the planet?

Posted on December 21, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Most of us are aware that our planet is constantly spinning around its own axis as it orbits the sun. However, the Earth actually rotates around a tilted axis of 23.44°, leading to changes in its slope over time due to natural oscillations and cycles.

Human activities, such as global warming and groundwater extraction for irrigation, are causing significant changes in Earth’s tilt. Scientists have found that as polar ice melts and water redistributes, it can affect the planet’s rotation.

Researchers estimate that pumping large amounts of groundwater for irrigation purposes has led to significant changes in Earth’s tilt over recent decades. This redistribution of water mass is impacting the planet’s rotation, with measurable effects on sea levels and pole shifts.

Experts like Professor Seo Ki-won note that even small changes in water mass can affect Earth’s rotation, leading to shifts in its axis. These changes have been observed over the past few decades, indicating the impact of human activities on a global scale.

While these changes may not directly impact the climate, they do have implications for systems that rely on precise measurements and timing, such as GPS and financial markets. As Earth’s rotation slows due to mass redistribution, adjustments will need to be made to prevent system failures.

It is becoming increasingly clear that human activities are influencing not just the climate, but also the fundamental movements of Earth within space. As we continue to alter the planet’s mass distribution, we must be prepared to adapt our technologies and systems to accommodate these changes.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Newly Uncovered Massive Energy Reserve Found Beneath Earth’s Crust

Posted on December 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The issue of energy consumption and its sources has always been a significant concern in the context of the climate crisis. In response, efforts are being made to utilize cleaner and newer fuels. Recently, a groundbreaking discovery of vast reservoirs of hydrogen energy hiding beneath the Earth’s surface has emerged, prompting questions about its potential impact.

Naturally occurring geological hydrogen is formed through Earth’s geochemical processes and has been identified in limited locations such as Albania and Mali. Research published in the journal Scientific Progress suggests that these reserves are widespread globally.

The study posits that if just 2 percent of the underground hydrogen could be extracted, it could yield 1.4 × 10^16 Joules of energy, equivalent to the world population’s energy consumption in 35 minutes. This amount of energy exceeds that of all natural gas reserves on Earth and could aid in achieving net-zero carbon goals.

While current methods for obtaining hydrogen involve fossil fuels or water-intensive electrolysis processes with a carbon footprint, extracting geological hydrogen is a comparatively low-carbon process, albeit currently practiced only in Mali.

Researchers at the U.S. Geological Survey have developed a model combining knowledge of hydrogen occurrence and geological data to explore these reservoirs on a global scale, estimating a substantial amount of hidden hydrogen beneath the Earth’s surface.

However, experts are hesitant about committing resources to extraction due to the scale and infrastructure required, as highlighted by geoscientist Professor Bill McGuire from University College London (UCL). He emphasizes the abundance of renewable energy sources like wind and solar and questions the necessity of tapping into another finite resource.

About our experts

Professor Bill McGuire is a volcanologist, climatologist, and author currently serving as Professor of Geophysics and Climate Hazards at UCL. His works include books on natural disasters, environmental change, and climate solutions.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Research Shows Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s Water Resembles Earth’s Water in Molecular Makeup

Posted on December 5, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Despite conflicting with the results of some recent studies, this new discovery reinforces the claim that Jupiter-based comets like 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may have contributed to providing water to Earth. This finding has been confirmed.

This pseudocolor four-image mosaic consists of images taken on February 3, 2015, from a distance of 28.7 km from the center of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The size of the mosaic is 4.2 x 4.6 km. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

Water is crucial for the formation and sustenance of life on Earth, and continues to be central to life on Earth today.

It is believed that some water was present in the gas and dust that formed our planet around 4.6 billion years ago, but due to Earth forming close to the sun’s intense heat, a considerable amount of water is thought to have evaporated.

The process by which Earth became abundant in liquid water is still a subject of debate among scientists.

Studies have indicated that a portion of Earth’s water originates from steam released by volcanoes, which then condensed and fell into the oceans.

Furthermore, evidence suggests that a significant percentage of our oceans resulted from the impact of ice and minerals from asteroids and potentially comets hitting Earth.

A series of comets and asteroids colliding with inner solar system planets 4 billion years ago could have facilitated this occurrence.

While there is a strong theory linking asteroid water to Earth’s water, the role of comets has perplexed scientists.

Multiple measurements of Jupiter-based comets have indicated a strong correlation between their water and that of Earth.

This connection is based on a fundamental molecular signature utilized by scientists to track the origins of water across the solar system.

The deuterium (D) to ordinary hydrogen (H) ratio in an object’s water serves as this signature, providing insights into the object’s formation location.

By comparing this hydrogen ratio in comets and asteroids to that of Earth’s water, scientists can discern a potential connection.

Deuterium-rich water is more likely to form in cold environments, resulting in objects formed farther from the Sun, such as comets, exhibiting higher concentrations of this isotope compared to objects formed nearer to the Sun, like asteroids.

Measurements conducted over the past few decades on the deuterium in the water vapor of various other Jupiter-based comets have revealed levels akin to Earth’s water.

“It seems increasingly likely that these comets play a significant role in delivering water to Earth,” commented Dr. Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

However, ESA’s Rosetta mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 challenged the notion that Jupiter-based comets aid in replenishing Earth’s water reservoirs.

Upon analyzing Rosetta’s water measurements, scientists discovered that it has the highest deuterium concentration among all comets, with approximately 100% more deuterium than Earth’s oceans (about 1 deuterium atom for every 6,420 hydrogen atoms), surpassing it by threefold.

“This was a significant revelation that compelled us to reassess everything,” remarked Dr. Mandt.

An advanced statistical computing approach was employed by the researchers to automate the laborious task of segregating deuterium-rich water from over 16,000 Rosetta measurements.

These measurements were taken within the gas and dust coma encircling 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta.

For the first time, Dr. Mandt and collaborators analyzed all water measurements from the European mission.

The researchers aimed to comprehend the physical processes influencing the fluctuations in hydrogen isotope ratios detected in comets.

Studies on comet dust in laboratory settings and observations indicated that comet dust could impact the hydrogen proportion detected in comet vapors, potentially altering how the comet’s water compares to Earth’s water.

“So, I was curious to see if I could find evidence of this phenomenon occurring in 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,” added Dr. Mandt.

“This is one of those rare instances where a hypothesis is proposed and genuinely validated.”

In fact, scientists identified a distinct correlation between the deuterium measurements of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko within its coma and the amount of surrounding dust near the Rosetta spacecraft, indicating that measurements taken in certain regions of the coma near 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may not accurately represent the comet’s celestial composition.

As the comet traverses an orbit closer to the Sun, its surface warms, releasing gases from the surface, including dust particles with attached water ice fragments.

Research suggests that water containing deuterium has a higher tendency to adhere to dust particles compared to regular water.

When this ice on dust particles is expelled into a coma, it can create an illusion of the comet containing more deuterium than it actually does.

The researchers noted that by the time the dust reaches the outer regions of the coma, at least 120 miles away from the comet’s core, the coma depletes of water.

Once the deuterium-rich water dissipates, the spacecraft can precisely measure the amount of deuterium emanating from the comet’s core.

“This discovery holds profound implications not only for elucidating the role of comets in supplying water to Earth but also for comprehending comet observations that offer insights into the early solar system’s formation,” the researchers noted.

“This discovery provides a unique opportunity to revisit previous observations and prepare for future observations to better factor in the effects of dust.”

of study Published in a magazine scientific progress.

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Kathleen E. Mandt others. 2024. D/H of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko almost on Earth. scientific progress 10(46);doi: 10.1126/sciadv.adp2191

Source: www.sci.news

Today, an asteroid will spectacularly burn up in Earth’s atmosphere.

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Map showing where asteroid fireballs can be seen in Siberia

ESA

A dramatic but harmless spectacle will take place over Siberia today as an asteroid about 70 centimeters in diameter burns up in the atmosphere.

The space rock will illuminate the sky over northern Siberia at around 11:15 pm local time (4:15 pm Japan time). Warning from the European Space Agency (ESA).

Alan Fitzsimmons Britain's Queen's University Belfast says objects of this size pose no danger to people on the ground, but early warnings are a positive sign that our ability to detect these objects before they hit Earth is increasing. It is said that this is a sign.

“It's small, but it's still going to be pretty spectacular,” Fitzsimmons said. “The sky above the impact site will darken and a very impressive, very bright fireball will spread across the sky for hundreds of kilometers around it.”

Several objects of this size collide with Earth every year, and we are getting better at detecting them early. The first discovery was in 2008. The next discovery was made six years later, but the pace of observations has picked up. Today's asteroid, named C0WEPC5, is the fourth predicted to hit Earth this year.

Early warning of small asteroids gives astronomers the opportunity to observe them, collect data, and even try to collect any small pieces that survive. Fitzsimmons said the first such predicted impact in 2008 led to the recovery of a small piece of rock and generated important science. “What was beautiful was that the meteorite's reflectivity matched exactly what was measured by telescopes before the impact, and it was a perfect match between what we saw in space and what we later found on Earth. “It shows a very nice direct connection,” he says.

Detecting larger, more dangerous objects heading toward Earth could provide an opportunity to deflect them or at least evacuate the dangerous area.

NASA and ESA currently have dedicated programs for asteroid discovery and tracking. This involves a large network of dedicated observatories and amateur astronomers who read the positions of known objects so that their orbits can be better understood and predicted.

This latest asteroid was discovered by NASA's Asteroid Earth Impact Last Alert System (ATLAS). ATLAS operates four telescopes around the world and is designed to provide up to a week of collision warning.

“This is a victory for science, [for] “If you happen to be in Siberia this evening, there will definitely be something to take your mind off the very cold temperatures,” says Fitzsimmons.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Astrophysicists study planets, asteroids, and primordial black holes in Earth’s matter

Posted on December 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Primordial black holes have been theorized for decades and may even be the eternally elusive dark matter. However, primordial black holes have not yet been observed. These tiny black holes could become trapped in rocky planets or asteroids, consuming their liquid cores from within and leaving hollow structures behind, according to a duo of astrophysicists from the University at Buffalo, Case Western Reserve University, and National Donghua University. It is said that there is. Alternatively, microtunnels could be left in very old rocks on Earth, or in the glass or other solid structures of very old buildings.

An artist's impression of a primordial black hole. Image credit: NASA.

Small primordial black holes are perhaps the most intriguing and intriguing relics of the early universe.

They could act as candidates for dark matter, be sources of primordial gravitational waves, and help solve cosmological problems such as domain walls and the magnetic monopole problem.

However, so far no convincing primordial black hole candidates have been observed.

Professor Dejan Stojković of the University at Buffalo said: “Although the chances of finding these signatures are low, the search does not require many resources and the potential reward of providing the first evidence of a primordial black hole is enormous. It's going to become something.”

“We need to think outside the box because what has been done so far to find primordial black holes has not worked.”

Professor Stojkovic and colleague Dr. De Zhang Dai, of Case Western Reserve University and National Donghua University, are investigating how large hollow asteroids can grow without collapsing, and whether a primordial black hole is The probability of passing was calculated. Earth.

“Because of such long odds, we have focused on hard traces that have existed for thousands, millions, or even billions of years,” Dr. Dai said. .

“If the object has a liquid central core, a trapped primordial black hole could absorb the liquid core, whose density is higher than that of the outer solid layer,” Professor Stojković added.

“In that case, if the object was hit by an asteroid, the primordial black hole could escape from the object, leaving only a hollow shell.”

But would such a shell be strong enough to support itself, or would it simply collapse under its own tension?

Comparing the strength of natural materials such as granite and iron to their surface tension and surface density, the researchers found that such hollow objects could be less than one-tenth the radius of the Earth, making them smaller than normal We calculated that it was more likely to be an asteroid than a planet. .

“If it gets any bigger, it will collapse,” Professor Stojković said.

“These hollow objects could potentially be detected with telescopes. The mass, and therefore the density, can be determined by studying the objects' trajectories.”

“If an object's density is too low for its size, that's a good sign that it's hollow.”

For objects without a liquid core, the primordial black hole could simply pass through, leaving a straight microtunnel behind.

For example, a primordial black hole with mass 10^{twenty two} grams, leaving a tunnel 0.1 microns thick.

Large slabs of metal or other materials could serve as effective black hole detectors by monitoring the sudden appearance of these tunnels, but very old materials from buildings that are hundreds of years old Searching for existing tunnels has a higher probability. From the oldest to rocks that are billions of years old.

Still, even assuming that dark matter is indeed composed of primordial black holes, they calculated that the probability that a primordial black hole would pass through a billion-year-old rock is 0.000001.

“You have to compare costs and benefits. Does it cost a lot of money to do this? No, it doesn't,” Professor Stojković said.

“So, to say the least, it's unlikely that a primordial black hole will pass through you during your lifetime. Even if you did, you probably wouldn't notice.”

“Unlike rocks, human tissue has a small amount of tension, so the primordial black hole won't tear it apart.”

“And while the kinetic energy of a primordial black hole may be huge, it is moving so fast that it cannot release much of that energy during a collision.”

“If a projectile is moving through a medium faster than the speed of sound, the molecular structure of the medium has no time to react.”

“If you throw a rock through a window, it will probably break. If you shoot a window with a gun, it will probably just leave a hole.”

team's paper Published in a magazine physics of the dark universe.

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De Chan Dai and Dejan Stojković. 2024. We're looking for planets, asteroids, and tiny primordial black holes on Earth. physics of the dark universe 46: 101662;doi: 10.1016/j.dark.2024.101662

Source: www.sci.news

The earth’s biggest city is sinking beneath the ocean’s surface. What are the implications of this?

Posted on November 23, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Flooding is a common occurrence in the cities of Navotas and Malabon, located in densely populated areas north of Metro Manila in the Philippines.

These cities have adapted to the constant threat of floods. For example, the iconic jeepney vehicles are now made of stainless steel to prevent corrosion from seawater. Additionally, roads have been continuously elevated, reaching heights higher than people’s doors in some areas.

“They keep raising the roads higher and higher, and it’s a challenge to sustain this,” says Dr. Mahal Ragmay, Executive Director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute.

The struggle to combat floods in these cities is not just due to rising sea levels, but also to the lowering of the ground level. A study led by Lagmay and his team revealed that parts of Metro Manila sank by 10.6 centimeters (4.2 inches) per year between 2014 and 2020, significantly higher than the global average sea level rise.

This rapid decline has been a growing concern, especially in certain coastal areas around Manila Bay where floods have left half of the houses submerged, forcing rice farmers to turn to fishing for their livelihood.

Similar subsidence issues are observed in various highly urbanized regions worldwide, as highlighted by land subsidence expert Dr. Matt Way, who studies urban subsidence on a global scale.

The Impact of Land Subsidence

Subsidence measurements are now conducted using advanced technologies like satellite data, allowing researchers to make more accurate estimates of ground movement. With tools like GNSS and InSAR, scientists can track ground movement in 3D at specific points, providing detailed insights into subsidence patterns.

By analyzing subsidence data from various cities globally, researchers have found that many urban areas are experiencing significant sinking rates, posing a threat to millions of people.

Causes of Subsidence

Tighter regulations on groundwater extraction have slowed Jakarta’s sinking rate, but flooding still occurs – Credit: BAY ISMOYO

Subsidence in cities like New York and Manila has various causes, including post-glacial rebound and human activities like excessive groundwater pumping. While natural phenomena like seismic faults contribute to ground movements, human interventions play a significant role in accelerating subsidence rates.

Addressing subsidence requires a multi-faceted approach, from regulating groundwater extraction to monitoring and mitigating the impact of sinking urban areas.

Mitigating Urban Subsidence

Cities like Jakarta, Tokyo, and Houston have made strides in slowing subsidence rates by implementing stricter water regulations and alternative water supply solutions. In Manila, efforts to ban deep well drilling and reduce reliance on groundwater are underway to address subsidence issues.

While some areas may face relocation due to flooding and sinking, careful management of groundwater resources and proactive monitoring can help cities bounce back from subsidence challenges.

About our experts

Dr. Matt Way is an expert in oceanography and studies natural disasters and crustal geodesy at the University of Rhode Island.

Dr. Mahal Lagmay is the Executive Director of the University of the Philippines Resilience Institute, focusing on projects related to flooding and groundwater management in the Philippines.

Read more:

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Using Earth’s Magnetic Field as a GPS, Migratory Birds Navigate Their Way

Posted on November 13, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Giant reed warbler migrating between Europe and Africa

AGAMI Photo Agency / Alamy Stock

Many migratory birds use the Earth's magnetic field as a compass, and others can use information from that field to more or less determine where they are on their mental map.

Greater Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus skillupaceus) appears to calculate geographic location by drawing data from various distances and angles between the magnetic field and the shape of the Earth. The study suggests that birds use magnetic information as a kind of “GPS,” telling them not only where to go, but also their initial whereabouts, they said. richard holland At Bangor University, UK.

“When we travel, we have a map that shows us where we are and a compass that shows us which direction to go to reach our destination,” he says. “We don't expect birds to have this much precision or knowledge about the entire planet. Yet, when they travel along their normal path, or even when they travel far from that path, they , and observe how the magnetic cues change.”

Scientists have known for decades that migratory birds rely on cues from the ocean. solar, star and earth's magnetic field To decide which direction to go. But using a compass to figure out direction and knowing where a bird is in the world are markedly different, and scientists are wondering if and how birds figure out their current map location. I'm still debating whether to do it or not.

Florian Packmore Germany's Lower Saxony Wadden Sea National Park Administration suspected that birds could detect detailed aspects of magnetic fields to determine their global location. Specifically, magnetic obliquity (the change in the angle of the Earth's surface relative to magnetic field lines) and magnetic declination (the difference in orientation between the geographic and magnetic poles) are used to better understand where you are in the world. He thought he might be able to do it.

To test their theory, Packmore, Holland and colleagues captured 21 adult reed warblers in Illmitz, Austria, on their migration route from Europe to Africa. So the researchers temporarily placed the birds in an outdoor aviary, where they used a Helmholtz coil to disrupt the magnetic field. They artificially altered the inclination and declination in a way that corresponded to the location of Neftekamsk, Russia, 2,600 kilometers away. “That's way off course for them,” Packmore says.

The researchers then placed the birds in special cages to study their migratory instincts and asked two independent researchers, who were unaware of changes in the magnetic field, to record which direction the birds headed. In the changed magnetic field conditions, most birds showed a clear tendency to fly west-southwest, as if trying to return to their migratory route from Russia. In contrast, when the magnetic field was unchanged, the same birds attempted to fly south-southeast from Austria.

This suggests that the birds believed they were no longer in Austria, but Russia, based solely on magnetic inclination and declination, Packmore said.

“Of course they don't know it's Russia, but it's too far north and east from where they should be,” Holland says. “And at that point, they look at their compass system and figure out how to fly south and west.”

However, the neurological mechanisms that allow birds to sense these aspects of the Earth's magnetic field are still not fully understood.

“This is an important step in understanding how the magnetic maps of songbirds, especially the great reed warbler, work,” he says. Nikita Chernetsov The professor at the Institute of Zoology of the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg was not involved in the study.

The study confirms that the great reed warbler relies on these magnetic fields for positioning, but that doesn't mean all birds do, he added. “Not all birds work the same.”

Packmore and Holland said the birds were released two to three weeks after the study, at which point they were able to continue their normal migration. In fact, one of the birds they studied was captured a second time a year later. This means that the researchers' work did not interfere with the birds' successful migration.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Study suggests that the majority of Earth’s meteorites come from the breakup events of only a few asteroids

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A new study shows that about 70% of meteorites originate from at least three recent breakups of giant asteroids.

This is the artist's impression of the asteroid as it breaks apart. Credit: NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology.

A type of meteorite, commonly called a chondrite, accounts for about 80% of all meteorites that hit Earth, including those that were involved in the violent impact period about 466 million years ago that is thought to have started the Ice Age. Included.

Previous studies have demonstrated that approximately 70% of meteorites on Earth have compositions known as H and L chondrites.

Argon-argon dating of L-chondrite meteorites on Earth suggests that these samples may have originated from the catastrophic destruction of a single asteroid that experienced a supersonic impact approximately 470 million years ago. It turned out to be high.

in new researchESO and MIT researcher Dr. Michael Marcet and colleagues have compiled spectroscopic data from asteroids in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter.

They found that a group of asteroids known as the Massalia family is very similar in composition to L-chondrite meteorites on Earth.

Through computer modeling, they propose that an impact event about 450 million years ago destroyed an L-chondrite asteroid, forming the Massalia family and providing debris that fueled the influx of meteorites.

in second studyCharles University researcher Miroslav Broz and his colleagues found that the current influx of H and L chondrite meteorites was likely caused by three recent breakups.

These events occurred about 5.8, 7.6 and 40 million years ago and involved the destruction of asteroids over 30 km (18.6 miles) in diameter.

More specifically, they suggest that the impact formation of the relatively young Karin and Coronis asteroid families and a second impact event (about 40 million years ago) in the older Massalia asteroids are currently falling to Earth. I guessed that explained most of the meteorites.

in Third, follow-upDr. Brož and his co-authors extended their approach to the entire meteorite family, revealing the major origins of carbonaceous chondrites and achondrites, in addition to those from the Moon, Mars, and Vesta.

“Our discovery provides insight into the mystery of where the most common meteorites that have ever hit Earth came from and how those impacts shaped Earth's history.” ,” the researchers said.

The results are published in three papers. journal nature and journal astronomy and astrophysics.

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M. Marcet others. 2024. Massalia asteroid family as the origin of ordinary L chondrites. nature 634, 561-565; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08007-6

M. Broz others. 2024. Young asteroids as the main source of meteorites. nature 634, 566-571; doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08006-7

M. Broz others. 2024. Source region of carbonaceous meteorites and near-Earth objects. A&A 689, A183; doi: 10.1051/0004-6361/202450532

Source: www.sci.news

Scientists believe that Earth’s recent discovery of a new mini-moon indicates significant potential for space mining.

Posted on October 16, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Our planet’s new small satellite, 2024 PT5, arrived in Earth’s orbit on September 29, 2024.

2024 PT5 is scheduled to capture a temporary flyby from September 29th to November 25th in 2024. Image credit: University of Colorado.

2024 PT5 was discovered by the Asteroid Earth Impact Final Warning System in Sutherland, South Africa on August 7, 2024.

This near-Earth asteroid is about 10 meters (33 feet) in diameter and follows an orbit similar to that of 2022 NX1.

2024 PT5 will become a mini-Earth satellite on September 29 and return to heliocentric orbit 56.6 days later on November 25.

“Near-Earth objects like this offer a glimpse into the formation process of the solar system,” said astrophysicist Dr. Nico Cappellutti. University of Miami.

“Most asteroids in our solar system are rocky remnants left over from the formation of our solar system.”

2024 PT5 is part of Arjuna, an asteroid belt made up of space rocks that follow an orbit around the sun very similar to Earth’s orbit.

“So sometimes they can remain temporarily trapped in our gravitational field,” Dr. Cappellutti said.

“Bringing them this close is a fascinating opportunity.”

“The asteroid, the size of a school bus, is too faint and small to be seen with the naked eye or with amateur telescopes, but its two-month stay around Earth has reinforced our intense interest in space rocks. It helps maintain.”

Two years ago, in what was called the first test of the planetary defense system, NASA crashed a spacecraft into the giant space rock Dimorphos, which could change direction if the asteroid was on a collision course with Earth. proved something.

Private companies also want to send spacecraft to asteroids in hopes of mining the precious metals they contain.

“Asteroids are classified based on their orbits and their contents,” said Dr. Bertrand Dano, also from the University of Miami.

“Some are made entirely of stone, while others contain high concentrations of rare metals, such as platinum and gold for electronics, nickel and cobalt for catalysts and fuel cell technology, and, of course, iron.”

“Mining asteroids is not far off. There are currently millions of asteroids in our solar system, about 2 million of which are larger than 1 km.”

“The resources it contains are a new dream for El Dorado, and there are several companies currently betting on it.”

“Recent missions to rendezvous with, orbit and land on asteroids have proven that space mining may be only a matter of time.”

“However, proceeding with asteroid mining will require huge investments, from the mining equipment that needs to operate in a vacuum to the technology needed to transport the extracted minerals to Earth.”

“And then there’s the spacecraft itself. A dedicated ship that would travel to an asteroid for the purpose of extracting minerals from the asteroid would probably be a robotic ship.”

“A trip to Mars would take about eight months under the best conditions. The space and equipment needed to support life would be put to good use as storage for backup equipment and resources.”

“Because it takes a lot of energy to leave Earth’s gravity, mining missions are better launched from space or from low-gravity bodies such as the Moon, Mars, or Titan, one of Saturn’s natural moons. Sho.”

“Returning to Earth is relatively easy, but dangerous for the material. It would be a shame if all the prizes disappeared. Refining will take place in space, and purified products can be shipped regularly. As far as I know, no one is thinking that far.”

“Yet, asteroid mining could have a 100-fold or more return.”

“Mining platinum or gold from an asteroid and returning it could make you a trillionaire overnight, potentially upending entire economies, trade and markets.”

“Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson once said, ‘The first billionaire in history was the one who exploited the natural resources of asteroids.'”

Source: www.sci.news

The Sun’s Ultimate Impact on Earth’s Life

Posted on October 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Upon entering my department’s weekly Astro Coffee Journal Club some years ago, I was immediately struck by an existential crisis regarding the future of our planet.

Let me clarify; our discussion was not centered on the planet itself. Rather, we were delving into a newly published research paper detailing intriguing features in the light spectrum of very distant stars known as white dwarfs—or dead stars.

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While this white dwarf wouldn’t directly impact Earth, nor did its spectrum pose any particular threat, the paper did offer a peek into our Sun and, in turn, our own future in a somewhat terrifying manner.

First and foremost, rest assured that our sun won’t explode, contrary to popular belief. One prevalent astronomical misconception is the notion that our sun will eventually go supernova, ending in a dramatic explosion that engulfs our solar system.

Based on our knowledge of stellar evolution, this fate does not await our Sun at all.

There are two main routes for a star to go supernova: a nuclear collapse supernova, where a massive star exhausts its fusion fuel, collapses, and bounces back in a violent explosion, or when a stellar remnant interacts catastrophically with a companion star, annihilating both. Fortunately, our Sun is safe from these outcomes as it lacks the mass for nuclear collapse and doesn’t have a companion star.

Nonetheless, immortality isn’t in the cards for the Sun.

Presently, our sun operates as a massive fusion reactor, converting hydrogen into helium at its core and emitting vast energy. Although some energy escapes as light, the rest bounces inward off the plasma, creating pressure that counteracts gravitational collapse—similar to how air pressure shapes a balloon. For the next 5 billion years, the Sun will function normally, but as hydrogen depletes, its core will compress, triggering fusion of helium into heavier elements and causing the sun to swell and grow brighter.

At this point, the sun will become potent enough to evaporate Earth’s oceans, likely wiping out life. Mercury and Venus will face a more severe fate, swallowed by the expanding sun. The future of Earth is uncertain during this phase, known as the red giant phase, when the Sun ceases nuclear fusion and sheds its outer layers, potentially birthing stunning planetary nebulae.

As the core collapses, it forms a dense white dwarf star sustained by quantum mechanical processes rather than fusion. Eventually, all Sun-like stars end as white dwarfs, cooling and fading away.

In our journal club, researchers studied a white dwarf’s spectral lines and noted unexpected elements like calcium, potassium, and sodium—fragments likely from a devoured planet, a notion hauntingly depicted as blood on a predator’s jaw. This insight into contaminated white dwarfs evoked a sense of emotional calm and reflection.

Perhaps in the distant future, alien astronomers will gaze upon us, reminiscing about the once vibrant Earth. The contemplation of these cosmic phenomena leaves one pondering the impermanence of all things.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

JUICE captures unprecedented image of Earth’s radiation belts

Posted on October 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In August 2024, ESA’s Jupiter ICy satellite probe (JUICE) made history with its daring Moon-to-Earth flight and double-gravity assisted maneuver. When the spacecraft passed the moon and the home planet, NASA’s Jupiter’s energetic neutrons and ions The (JENI) instrument aboard JUICE has captured the clearest images yet of Earth’s radiation belts, belts of charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetosphere.

The center of this infographic shows the clearest image yet of a cloud of charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetic field, and the inset shows high-energy images detected along JUICE’s flight path. Measurements of ions and electrons are shown. Image credit: ESA / NASA / Johns Hopkins APL / Josh Diaz.

“The moment we saw the clear new image, the whole room erupted in high-fives,” said Dr. Matina Goukiuridou, JENI deputy director at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

“It was clear that we had captured the giant ring of hot plasma surrounding Earth in unprecedented detail, and this result has sparked excitement about what’s to come on Jupiter.”

Unlike traditional cameras that rely on light, JENI uses special sensors to capture high-energy neutral atoms emitted by charged particles that interact with hydrogen gas in the widespread atmosphere surrounding Earth. Masu.

The JENI instrument is the latest generation of this type of camera and builds on the success of similar instruments in NASA’s Cassini mission, which revealed the magnetospheres of Saturn and Jupiter.

August 19th, JENI and its companion particle measuring instrument Jupiter’s energetic electrons (JoEE) made the most of his brief 30-minute encounter with the moon.

As JUICE zoomed just 750 km (465 miles) above the lunar surface, the instrument collected data about the space environment and its interactions with our closest celestial companion star.

Scientists expect this interaction to be magnified and observed on Jupiter’s moons as the gas giant’s radiation-rich magnetosphere passes over them.

On August 20, JUICE entered Earth’s magnetosphere, passing approximately 60,000 km (37,000 miles) over the Pacific Ocean. There, the instruments experienced for the first time the harsh environment that awaits them on Jupiter.

As JoEE and JENI raced through the magnetic tail, they encountered the dense, low-energy plasma typical of the region before plunging into the heart of the radiation belt.

There, instruments measured the millions of degrees of plasma surrounding Earth to investigate the secrets of plasma heating, which is known to drive dramatic phenomena in planetary magnetospheres.

“We couldn’t have expected a better flyby,” said Dr. Pontus Brandt, principal investigator for JoEE and JENI at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

“The wealth of data we have obtained from our deep dive into the magnetosphere is amazing. JENI’s image of the entire system that we just flew was simply the best.”

“This is a powerful combination to leverage in the Jupiter system.”

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This article has been adapted from the original release by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Uncovering the Truth Behind Earth’s Crisis of Declining Sperm Counts

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

With the abundance of news stories, one might believe that humanity is on a path to self-destruction due to pollution, microplastics, and harmful chemicals. Reports of decreasing sperm counts have led to discussions about a possible “Spermageddon,” with politicians even considering incentivizing women to have children (source).

However, after speaking with experts like Professor Alan Pacey, a male infertility researcher, and Professor Sarah Harper, director of the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, it seems that while there is reason to be concerned, we are not currently in a crisis.

Why are some people concerned about “Spermageddon”?

The concern dates back to a study from 1974 that showed a decrease in sperm counts among American men compared to the data from the 1950s (source). While various factors like climate change, genetic defects, and microplastics have been suggested as causes for declining sperm counts, not all experts are convinced about the severity of the issue.

Recent studies, including those conducted in Denmark, have not shown significant declines in sperm quality, leading to doubts about the extent of the problem. While concerns about microplastics and chemicals are valid, they may not be directly linked to infertility as some believe.

Recent research published in the journal Nature also suggests that semen quality worldwide may not be declining significantly.

Is global infertility on the rise?

While birth rates are indeed falling, experts argue that there is no concrete evidence of a widespread increase in infertility. Factors like delayed childbearing, improved access to fertility treatments, and reduced stigma around infertility may be contributing to more people seeking assistance at fertility clinics.

Why are populations declining in many areas?

The declining birth rates in countries like South Korea, China, and the United States are influenced by various factors, including economic growth and changing societal norms. While it may seem like an “infertility epidemic,” some experts see it as a demographic outcome of broader trends.

Should we be concerned?

Experts have differing perspectives on the issue. While some, like Professor Harper, believe that falling birth rates are not a cause for alarm, others, like Professor Pacey, are concerned about the barriers to fertility treatment and the impact on individuals facing infertility. Both emphasize the need for a nuanced approach to addressing the complex factors affecting fertility rates.

About our experts

Professor Alan Pacey MBE is a renowned researcher in male fertility and sperm biology at the University of Manchester, with over 30 years of experience in the field.

Professor Sarah Harper CBE is a gerontology expert at the University of Oxford, focusing on population aging and fertility trends.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

For the First Time, NASA’s Endurance Mission Measures Earth’s Bipolar Electric Field

Posted on August 29, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

First hypothesized over 60 years ago Bipolar electric field Polar winds are the primary driver of a constant outflow of charged particles into space above the Earth’s poles. These electric fields lift charged particles in the upper atmosphere to higher altitudes than usual, and may have shaped the evolution of Earth in ways that are still unknown.

Collinson othersThey report that a potential drop of +0.55 ± 0.09 V exists between 250 km and 768 km due to the planetary electrostatic field, generated solely by the outward pressure of ionospheric electrons. They experimentally demonstrate that the Earth’s ambipolar field controls the structure of the polar ionosphere, increasing its scale height by 271%. Image courtesy of NASA.

Since the 1960s, spacecraft flying over Earth’s poles have detected streams of particles streaming from Earth’s atmosphere into space.

Theorists predicted these outflows, named them polar winds, and stimulated research to understand their causes.

Some outflow from the atmosphere was expected — intense, unobstructed sunlight should send some atmospheric particles escaping into space, like water vapor evaporating from a pot of water — but the observed polar winds were more puzzling.

Many of the particles inside were cold and showed no signs of heating, but they were moving at supersonic speeds.

“Something must be attracting these particles to the outer reaches of the atmosphere,” said Dr. Glynn Collinson, Endurance mission principal investigator and a researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

The electric fields, hypothesized to be generated at subatomic levels, would be incredibly weak and their effects would be expected to be felt only for distances of hundreds of miles.

For decades, detecting it has been beyond the limits of existing technology.

In 2016, Dr Collinson and his colleagues began inventing a new instrument that they thought would be suitable for measuring Earth’s bipolar magnetic field.

The team’s equipment and ideas were perfectly suited for a suborbital rocket flight launched from the Arctic.

The researchers named the mission “Antarctic Expedition,” in honor of the ship that carried Ernest Shackleton on his famous 1914 Antarctic voyage. Endurance.

They set course for Svalbard, a Norwegian island just a few hundred miles from the North Pole and home to the world’s northernmost rocket launch site.

“Svalbard is the only rocket launch site in the world that can fly through the polar winds and make the measurements we need,” said Dr Susie Ingber, an astrophysicist at the University of Leicester.

Endurance was launched on May 11, 2022, reaching an altitude of 768.03 kilometers (477.23 miles) and splashing down in the Greenland Sea 19 minutes later.

Over the 518.2 kilometres (322 miles) altitude where Endurance collected data, it measured a change in electrical potential of just 0.55 volts (V).

“Half a volt is almost meaningless – it’s about the strength of a watch battery – but it’s just right for describing polar winds,” Dr Collinson said.

Hydrogen ions, the most abundant type of particle in the polar wind, experience an outward force from this field that is 10.6 times stronger than gravity.

“That’s more than enough to counter gravity, in fact to launch you into space at supersonic speeds,” said Dr. Alex Grosser, a research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and Endurance project scientist.

Heavier particles are also accelerated: an oxygen ion at the same altitude, immersed in this 0.5 volt electric field, loses half its mass.

In general, scientists have found that bipolar magnetic fields increase what’s called the scale height of the ionosphere by 271%, meaning the ionosphere remains denser up to higher altitudes than it would be without the bipolar magnetic field.

“It’s like a conveyor belt that lifts the atmosphere up into space,” Dr Collinson said.

The Endurance discovery has opened up many new avenues of exploration.

The polarity field, as a fundamental energy field of the Earth alongside gravity and magnetism, may have continually shaped the evolution of the atmosphere in ways that we are only now beginning to explore.

Because it is generated by the internal dynamics of the atmosphere, similar electric fields are expected to exist on other planets, including Venus and Mars.

“Any planet with an atmosphere should have a bipolar magnetic field, and now that we’ve finally measured it we can start to learn how it has shaped our planet and other planets over time,” Dr Collinson said.

Team result Published in a journal Nature.

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G.A. Collinson others2024. Earth’s bipolar electrostatic field and its role in the escape of ions into space. Nature 632, 1021-1025;doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07480-3

This article is a version of a press release from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

Source: www.sci.news

The Remarkable Intelligence of Honeybees: Why They Stand Out Among Earth’s Creatures

Posted on August 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Bees are winged insects that feed on nectar and pollen from flowers and sometimes produce honey. There are around 20,000 species of honeybees, of which 270 live in the UK. More than 90% of honeybee species are solitary, but the remaining species, such as honeybees and bumblebees, live socially in colonies consisting of a single queen bee, female worker bees and male drones.

The largest wasp, Wallace's giant wasp, can grow up to 4cm in length, while tiny stingless wasp workers are smaller than a grain of rice. Wasps live on every continent except Antarctica, and in all habitats with flowering plants that are pollinated by insects.

Honeybees pollinate many of the plants we rely on for food, but their numbers are declining.
Bee species numbers have been declining for decades and bees are now missing from a quarter of the places in the UK where they were found 40 years ago.

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How intelligent are honeybees?

Bees are highly intelligent creatures: they can count, solve puzzles and even use simple tools.

in An experimentIn a study, bees were trained to jump over three identical, evenly spaced landmarks to reach a sugar reward 300 meters away. When the number of landmarks was then reduced, the bees flew much farther; when the number of landmarks was increased, the bees landed a shorter distance away.

This suggests that the bees were counting landmarks to decide where to land.

in Another studyScientists have created a puzzle box that can be opened by twisting the lid to access sugar.
Solution: Press the red tab to rotate the lid clockwise. Press the blue tab to rotate it counterclockwise. Not only can bees be trained to solve puzzles, they can also learn to solve problems themselves by watching other bees solve them.

In terms of tool use, Asian honeybees have been known to collect fresh animal waste and smear it around the hive entrance to repel predatory Asian giant hornets. This may smell a bit, but it also counts as tool use.

Scientists have previously shown that honeybees can learn to use tools in the lab. Fecal discovery in 2020 This is the first observation of tool use by wild honeybees.

Honeybee Anatomy

Image credit: Daniel Bright

The head includes:

1. Two compound eyes 2. Three small, lenticular eyespots (called ocelli) 3. Antennae that detect smell, taste, sound, and temperature 4. Chewing jaws, often used as nest building material 5. A proboscis that sucks up nectar, honey, and water

The thorax consists of:

6. Bee body 7. 3 pairs of legs 8. Two pairs of wings

The abdomen contains the following:

9. An esophagus, or honey stomach, for transporting nectar to the nest 10. Stinger – A sharp organ used to inject venom

How do bees communicate?

Honeybees have two primary modes of communication: expressive dance and expressive olfaction.

Honeybees use their famous “wag dance” to guide hive-mates to nectar- and pollen-rich flowers. Returning from a successful scouting mission, a worker bee scurries to one of the hive's vertical combs and begins tracing a figure-eight pattern.

Honeybees doing the “tail dance” – Photo credit: Kim Taylor / naturepl.com

When it reaches the straight center of its shape, it vibrates its abdomen and flaps its wings, a motion that makes the bird's wings wag like a tail.

The length of the tail flick indicates the distance to the flower, with each second increasing the distance traveled by 100 metres.Communicating direction is more complicated but can be done by the bee orienting its body in the direction of the food, relative to the sun.

The intensity of the dance indicates the abundance of food sources, and the dancers also release a cocktail of pheromones that spur nestmates into action: Colony members watch the dance, smell it with their antennae, and then set off in search of flowers.

There are other dances too, such as the “round dance” where the hips are not shaken and is used to indicate the position of flowers.
Nearby, forager bees perform their “trembling dance” to gather their swarm members together to collect nectar from worker bees.

How do bees travel?

A honeybee can travel miles to find food in distant flower fields, yet still reliably find its way home – and with a brain the size of a sesame seed! So how does it do this?

First, they use the sun as a compass. Honeybees' eyes are sensitive to polarized light and can penetrate thick clouds, meaning that even on cloudy days, honeybees can “see” the sun and use it as a guide. Combining the position of the sun with the time indications of the animals' internal clocks allows honeybees to figure out both direction and distance.

Bees also monitor how much the sun moves while they are migrating, so that when they return to the hive they can tell their hive-mates where the food is relative to the sun's current position, rather than where it was when they found it.

Finally, honeybees are known to be able to sense magnetic fields through some sort of magnetic structure in their abdomen, so researchers believe they may also use the Earth's magnetic field to help them navigate.

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What does a bumblebee nest look like?

Bumblebees are plump, hairy bees that look like they can't fly. There are 24 species in the UK, of which 6 are parasitic and 18 are social.

Social species, such as garden bumblebees, form colonies and nest in protected places out of direct sunlight – good places include abandoned rodent burrows, compost piles, birdhouses, tree holes and spaces under sheds.

Photo credit: John Waters / naturepl.com

Unlike honeybee nests, which are elaborate structures with hexagonal cells, bumblebee nests are messy structures of cells, often insulated with leaves or animal fur, and designed to house small numbers of bees (about 40 to 400) during one nesting season.

In contrast, a honeybee hive can house up to 40,000 bees and last for many years.

Parasitic bumblebees, such as the giant cuckoo bee, don't build their own nests – instead, the queen invades other bumblebee nests, kills the queen and lays her own eggs, which are then raised by the local worker bees.

When did honeybees evolve?

Hornets are said to be cruel and are universally disliked, while honeybees are seen as benevolent and widely revered, yet honeybees evolved from hornets.

Bees belong to the order Hymenoptera, which also includes sawflies, ants, and wasps. The oldest Hymenoptera fossils date to the Triassic Period, about 224 million years ago. Wasps appeared in the Jurassic Period, 201 to 145 million years ago, and honeybees appeared in the Cretaceous Period, 145 to 66 million years ago.

Trigona prisca was one of the first species. Stingless bees discovered immortalized in amber in New JerseyThey flew about 85 million years ago, and the key specimens were female, worker bees with small abdomens, indicating that some bee species had already formed complex social structures.

The first animal-pollinated flowers had already evolved by this time and were pollinated by beetles, but the evolution of bees prompted the evolution of flowering plants, which prompted the evolution of bees, and so on.

This is one of the best examples of co-evolution: flowers evolved nectar and a funnel-shaped head, while bees evolved a long tongue to drink the nectar and specialized hairs to transport the pollen.

Can humans survive without bees?

Probably not, but the disappearance of honeybees would pose a serious threat to global food security and nutrition.

One third of the food we eat relies on insects like bees to pollinate the plants they grow, transporting pollen between them – from staples like potatoes and onions to fruits like apples and watermelon to condiments like basil and coriander.

For example, coffee and cocoa trees depend on honeybees for pollination, as do around 80% of Europe's wildflowers.

Bees are also a food source for many birds, mammals and insects, so if they were to disappear, their role in the ecosystem would be lost, with knock-on effects for many other animals and plants.

It's bad news, then, that honeybees are in global decline due to habitat loss, intensive farming, pollution, pesticide use, disease and climate change. Recent studies have found that the global decline of pollinating insects is already causing around 500,000 premature human deaths per year by reducing healthy food supplies.

What should I plant to make my garden bee-friendly?

Bees navigate by their position relative to the sun. – Photo credit: Getty Images

Most bee species aren't too picky about where they get their pollen and nectar from, so plants like lavender, hollyhocks and marigolds attract a variety of bees.

But other species are more specialized and depend on fewer plants. These bees are often rare, and if the plants they need to survive disappear, local bee populations can be at risk.

Raise yellow-flowered bees for yellow-flowered bees. Yellow-flowered bees are medium-sized bees that frequent this plant in search of pollen and aromatic oils. Females use the oils to waterproof their nests, which are often found on the banks of ponds and rivers.

Lamb's ear is an easy-to-grow evergreen perennial that is a favorite of wool-carder wasps. Female wool-carder wasps use the soft, hairy leaf fibers to line their nests, and males defend territories that contain these plants.

Another easy way is to let your grass grow long and embrace the weeds.

Dandelions and related plants like honeysuckle and chickweed are favorites of pantaloon bees, so named because the long hairs on the female's hind legs, covered with pollen, look like clown trousers. Buttercups, in turn, attract large pincer bees and sleepy carpenter bees.

5 Common Myths About Bees…Bullshit

1. Bees are too heavy to fly – This myth dates back to the 1934 publication of Antoine Magnin's “Book of Insects.” Magnin mistakenly believed that bees' wings were too small to generate the lift needed for flight. Obviously, he was wrong.

2. All bees sting – Male honeybees cannot sting; the stinger is a modified egg-laying organ that only females have. There are also about 550 species of stingless bees, but their stingers are too small to be used for defense.

3. If a bee stings, it will die. – Of all the bees that can sting, only the honeybee dies after stinging. The barbs on the bee's stinger get stuck in the victim's skin and when the bee tries to escape, its abdomen bursts, causing a fatal injury.

4. All bees make honey – Most bees don't make honey. In fact, there are only eight species of bees that produce large amounts of sweet nectar. There are hundreds of other species of bees that produce honey, but in much smaller amounts.

5. All bees are hard workers – As busy as honeybees are, aren't they? The queen bee lays up to 1,500 eggs a day. The worker bees forage, feed the larvae, and clean the hive. But the drones don't have as much work to do in a day. Their only role is to mate with the virgin queen bee.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

New: Groundbreaking drill core penetrates 1.2 kilometers into Earth’s mantle

Posted on August 9, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A rock sample from Earth’s mantle viewed under a microscope

Johan Lissenberg

In the middle of the North Atlantic, geologists have drilled 1,268 metres below the seafloor – the deepest hole ever drilled into Earth’s mantle – and analysis of the resulting rock core may provide new clues about the evolution of the planet’s outermost layers and even the origin of life.

The Earth is generally made up of several different layers, including the solid outer crust, the upper and lower mantle, and the core. The upper mantle, located just below the crust, is made up primarily of magnesium-rich rocks called peridotites. This layer drives important planetary processes such as earthquakes, the hydrological cycle, and the formation of volcanoes and mountain ranges.

“Until now, we’ve only been able to see fragments of the mantle,” Johan Lissenberg “However, there are many places on the seafloor where the mantle is exposed,” said researchers from Cardiff University in the UK.

One such region is an underwater mountain called Atlantis Mountains, located near a volcanically active area of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Pieces of the mantle constantly come to the surface and melt, giving rise to the region’s many volcanoes. Meanwhile, as seawater seeps deeper into the mantle, it is heated by higher temperatures, producing compounds such as methane, which bubbles up from hydrothermal vents and serves as fuel for microorganisms.

“There’s a kind of chemical kitchen beneath the Atlantis massif,” Lisenberg says.

To learn more about this dynamic region, he and his colleagues initially planned to use the drilling ship JOIDES Resolution to drill 200 meters into the mantle, deeper than researchers had gone before.

“We then started drilling and it went surprisingly well,” a team member said. Andrew McCaig “We retrieved a very long continuous fragment of rock and decided to go for it and go as deep as we could,” said researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK.

Ultimately, the team succeeded in drilling to a depth of 1,268 metres into the mantle.

When the researchers analyzed the drill core samples, they found that they had a much lower content of a mineral called pyroxene compared to other mantle samples from around the world, suggesting that this particular part of the mantle underwent significant melting in the past, depleting it of pyroxene, Lisenberg said.

In the future, he hopes to recreate this melting process, which will allow him to understand how the mantle melts and how that molten rock travels to the surface to feed oceanic volcanoes.

Some scientists believe life on Earth began deep in the ocean near hydrothermal vents, so by studying the chemicals that show up along the cylindrical rock cores, microbiologists hope to determine the conditions that may have led to the emergence of life, and at what depths below the ocean floor.

“This is a very important borehole because it will provide a reference point for scientists across many scientific disciplines,” McCaig says.

“While a one-dimensional sample from Earth cannot provide complete information about the three-dimensional migration paths of melt and water, it is still a major achievement,” he said. John Wheeler At the University of Liverpool, UK.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Is it Necessary to Establish a Frozen Backup of Earth’s Life on the Moon?

Posted on July 31, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Shackleton Crater on the south pole of the moon is an area in permanent shadow

LROC/Shadowcam/NASA/KARI/ASU

A backup of Earth-based life could be safely stored in a permanently dark spot on the Moon’s surface, without the need for power or maintenance, and could potentially be restored if life becomes extinct.

Mary Hagedorn Researchers at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute in Washington, DC, and their colleagues proposed building the lunar biorepository as a response to extinctions occurring on Earth.

The plan has three main goals: to protect the diversity of life on Earth, to preserve species that may be useful for space exploration, such as those that can provide food or biological materials for filtration, and to preserve microorganisms that may be needed in the future to terraform other planets.

Hagedorn said the team wanted to identify a place that wouldn’t require people or energy to store cryogenically frozen living cells at temperatures below minus 196 degrees Celsius, the temperature at which nitrogen becomes liquid and all biological processes stop.

“There’s no place on Earth cold enough to put passive storage, which has to be kept at minus 196 degrees Celsius, so we thought about space or the moon,” Hagedorn said.

She said the team chose the lunar south pole because of a deep crater with a cold area that’s permanently in shadow. Burying the samples about two meters below the surface would also protect them from radiation, she said.

Previous attempts to build safe biovaults have met with mixed success. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway is located in the Arctic and was built to be permanently kept at or below -18 degrees Celsius by the surrounding permafrost, but climate change and rising temperatures threaten its long-term safety.

Biorepository facilities in other parts of the world, especially those located close to cities, are human-power dependent and vulnerable to geopolitical upheaval.

Andrew Pask David B. Schneider, a researcher at the University of Melbourne in Australia who is building an Australian seed repository, is enthusiastic about the idea: “We want to look at the same samples in the same facility to ensure their safety, and at the moment the Moon seems like the safest place,” he says.

but Rachel Lapin A researcher from Monash University in Melbourne says there are many challenges and disadvantages to using the Moon, especially the difficulty of accessing it to add or remove samples. She says it might be better to store samples on Earth with lots of redundancy, so that if one repository fails, others are available.

“I want to see compelling evidence that storage will be available if needed,” she said.

Even if this moon vault is not used, Alice Gorman Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, see value in preserving human remains in space, and believe they might one day be accessible to extraterrestrial civilizations.

“Whether it’s cryogenically frozen biological tissue or DNA, or the full text of Wikipedia stored on a high-density nickel disk, the repository will be similar to the Voyager Golden Records,” Gorman says, referring to the metal disks containing humanity’s story attached to the spacecraft currently leaving the solar system.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Melting Ice Causing Earth’s Rotation to Slow and Axis to Shift, Research Finds

Posted on July 17, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

A recent study reveals that climate change is fundamentally reshaping the Earth, impacting its core. The melting of polar ice caps and glaciers due to global warming is causing a redistribution of water towards the equator, resulting in a shift in the Earth’s rotation and leading to increased daylight hours. This phenomenon is supported by new evidence suggesting that changes in the Earth’s ice could potentially affect its axis. These alterations create feedback loops within the Earth’s molten core, as highlighted in studies published in Nature Geoscience and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

According to Benedict Soja, an assistant professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, human activities are significantly influencing the Earth’s rotation. Changes in the planet’s shape and mass distribution, influenced historically by forces like the moon’s gravitational pull and rebounding of crust after ice age glaciers disappeared, are now being accelerated by rapid ice melting caused by climate change. Soja warns that continued carbon emissions could make ice loss a more significant factor in Earth’s rotation than the moon.

In addition to external factors like gravity and ice loss, fluid movements in the Earth’s core also play a role in affecting the planet’s rotation. These movements can speed up or slow down the Earth’s rotation and are currently compensating for the slowdown caused by climate change. The new study suggests that climate change is leading to small variations in polar motion due to changes in mass distribution, estimated to be about one meter per decade.

An iceberg in Antarctica on February 8th.
Şebnem Coşkun / Anadolu via Getty Images File

These changes in rotation are expected to have implications for space missions, navigation, and timekeeping. Understanding how Earth’s rotation and axis are affected by climate change will be crucial for accurate space exploration and maintaining global time standards. The research emphasizes the interconnectedness of surface processes with the Earth’s core, shedding light on the complex relationship between human activities and the planet’s inner workings.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Scientists May Have Finally Discovered the Cause of Strange Occurrences at Earth’s Core

Posted on July 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

You may be surprised by how little we actually know about the inner workings of the Earth. While we have a good grasp of how the Earth’s surface moves to create mountains and trigger earthquakes, the deeper we delve, the more mysterious it becomes.

One highly debated topic for years has been the movement of the Earth’s inner core. Does it move forward, backward, left, right? The truth is, nobody really knows. However, recent research published in Nature suggests that the core is receding relative to the surface, potentially putting an end to the long-standing debate.

This study confirms a controversial paper from the previous year by researchers at Peking University, as detailed in Nature Chemistry.

The inner core of the Earth is a solid, crystallized sphere of iron, approximately the size of the Moon, situated around 5,000 km beneath us in a liquid metal sea known as the outer core comprised of iron, nickel, and other metals.

“The inner core is a solid entity that floats within the outer core, lacking any anchorage,” explained Professor John Vidal, co-author of the study, a researcher at the University of Southern California (USC), in an interview with BBC Science Focus.

According to a press release from USC, the study presents “unequivocal evidence” that the movement of the inner core slowed around 2010 and is now lagging behind the surface movement. This new motion pattern makes the core appear to move backward compared to the surface, akin to how a slowing car seems to move in reverse to a steady-speed driver.

If the findings are accurate, this marks the initial detection of a slowdown in 40 years and supports the notion that the core’s velocity fluctuates in a 70-year cycle.

The research team utilized seismometers in Canada and Alaska to analyze repeated earthquakes, focusing on 121 events in the South Sandwich Islands between 1991 and 2023, along with data from past nuclear tests conducted by the Soviets.

By examining matching seismic waveforms from various time periods, the team sought to determine if the inner core rotates independently from the rest of the Earth. Discrepancies in wave patterns indicated changes in the core’s rotation, with some signals aligning pre and post-shift, implying a realignment of the core.

Bidart, one of the researchers, expressed initial confusion upon seeing seismic records suggesting a change but became convinced upon discovering more consistent observations. The slowdown in the inner core’s movement, unseen for decades, aligns with their latest findings, offering a plausible resolution to the ongoing debate.

Despite uncertainties regarding surface impacts, Bidale acknowledged a slight potential change in the length of a day, barely perceptible amid the Earth’s bustling activity of oceanic and atmospheric movements.

Future research aims to gather additional waveform data from diverse global locations and pathways. Vidar highlighted a wait-and-see approach, anticipating unusual core movements around 2001 and further exploration to elucidate these occurrences.

About our experts

John Vidale Dr. Schneider currently chairs the Department of Geosciences at the University of Southern California. His research covers earthquakes, Earth structure, volcanoes, and seismic hazards. At USC since 2017, Dr. Schneider previously directed the Southern California Earthquake Center and contributed to earthquake-related committees and working groups.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

Snowball Earth’s harsh environmental conditions provided a competitive edge for the evolution of multicellular organisms

Posted on July 2, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Fossil and molecular evidence suggests that complex multicellular organisms arose and proliferated during the Neoproterozoic Era (1-541 million years ago). An extreme glacial period during the Cryogenian Period (720-635 million years ago), an event commonly referred to as Snowball Earth, led to dramatic changes in Earth's climate and oceans. New research suggests that Snowball Earth was an environmental trigger for the proliferation of complex multicellularity across multiple groups of eukaryotic organisms.

Artist's impression of “Snowball Earth.” Image courtesy of NASA.

Solving the mystery of why multicellular organisms emerged could help pinpoint life on other planets and explain the enormous diversity and complexity seen on Earth today, from marine sponges to redwoods to human societies.

The prevailing thinking is that oxygen levels must reach a certain threshold for a single cell to form a multicellular colony.

However, the oxygen story does not fully explain why the multicellular ancestors of animals, plants and fungi emerged simultaneously, or why the transition to multicellularity took more than a billion years.

The new study shows how the specific physical conditions of Snowball Earth, particularly the viscosity of the oceans and the depletion of resources, may have led eukaryotes to become multicellular.

“It seems almost counterintuitive that these extremely harsh conditions – this frozen planet – could actually select for larger, more complex organisms, rather than causing species to become extinct or shrink in size,” said William Crockett, a doctoral student at MIT.

Using scaling theory, Crockett and his colleagues found that a hypothetical ancestor of early animals, reminiscent of swimming algae that fed on prey instead of photosynthesizing, would have grown in size and complexity under Snowball Earth pressures.

In contrast, single-celled organisms that move and feed by diffusion, such as bacteria, will grow small.

“The world changed after Snowball Earth because new life forms emerged on the planet,” said Professor Christopher Kemps of the Santa Fe Institute.

“One of the central questions of evolution is: How did we evolve from nothing on Earth to beings and societies like us? Was it all by chance?”

“We don't think it's luck. There are ways to predict these big changes.”

The study shows how, during the Snowball Earth era, the oceans froze, blocking sunlight and reducing photosynthesis, which resulted in nutrient depletion in the oceans.

Larger organisms that could process more water were more likely to eat enough to survive.

As the glaciers melt, these large creatures could expand even further.

“Our study provides hypotheses about ancestral features to look for in the fossil record,” Crockett said.

of study Published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

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William W. Crockett others2024. Snowball Earth's physical constraints drive the evolution of multicellularity. Proc. R. Soc. B 291 (2025): 20232767; doi: 10.1098/rspb.2023.2767

This article is a version of a press release provided by the Santa Fe Institute.

Source: www.sci.news

Incredible Map Reveals Earth’s Place in the Expansive Universe

Posted on June 26, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

This story is part of our “Cosmic Perspective” series, which confronts the incredible vastness of the universe and our place in it. Read the rest of the series here.

This map shows the cosmic ring that surrounds us, stretching out to distances of up to 200 million light-years. At this scale, the universe is made up of galaxy clusters and voids, the latter being regions with relatively few galaxies. The Milky Way at the center is part of the Local Group, while the Virgo Cluster is our nearest neighbour.

The magnificent spiral

The Milky Way’s spiral structure is dominated by two major arms called Scutum-Centaurus and Perseus. It also features a dense region called the central bar. Our solar system sits on a more modest structure called the Orion Arm.

No matter how complex the questions about our metaphorical place in the universe, astronomy can help us understand Earth’s physical location.

Earth orbits at a distance of 150 million kilometers from the Sun, which in turn orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Specifically, Earth is located in the Orion Arm, about 26,500 light years from the center.

The Milky Way Galaxy is part of the Local Group of galaxies. Its nearest neighbor, the Andromeda Galaxy, is about 2.5 million light-years away and is the largest galaxy in the Local Group. We are currently hurtling towards the Andromeda Galaxy at over 100 kilometers per second, and in about 4 billion years the two galaxies will collide.

Local Groups

It will shake up local groups, but it will barely be on the radar of the wider cosmic neighborhood.

Source: www.newscientist.com

Study indicates that Earth’s inner core started decelerating in 2010

Posted on June 15, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The movement of Earth’s inner core has been a topic of debate in the scientific community for the past 20 years, with some studies suggesting that the inner core rotates faster than the Earth’s surface. However, a new study has presented clear evidence that the inner core started to slow down around 2010 and is now moving at a slower pace compared to the Earth’s surface.

king othersIt shows that Earth’s inner core gradually super-rotated from 2003 to 2008, then repeated a slower rotation 2-3 times along the same path from 2008 to 2023. Image by USC Graphic/Edward Sotelo.

“When I first saw the earthquake records suggesting this change, I was puzzled,” said John Bedale, a professor at the University of Southern California.

“But when we found 24 more observations showing the same pattern, the result was inevitable.”

“The inner core is slowing down for the first time in decades.”

“Other scientists have recently proposed similar or different models, but our latest work offers the most plausible solution.”

The inner core is believed to be rotating and moving relative to the Earth’s surface, as it is now moving slightly slower than Earth’s mantle after about 40 years of moving faster.

Compared to the rates observed over the past few decades, the inner core is now slowing down.

The inner core is a solid iron-nickel sphere surrounded by a liquid iron-nickel outer core.

Located more than 4,828 km (3,000 miles) beneath the Earth’s surface, the inner core is roughly the size of the Moon and poses a challenge for researchers as it cannot be visited or directly observed.

Scientists rely on seismic waves from earthquakes to study the movement of the inner core.

In contrast to previous studies, Professor Vidale and his team used waveforms and repeating earthquakes in their research.

Repeating earthquakes are seismic events that occur in the same location and produce identical earthquake records.

The study analyzed recorded seismic data from 121 repeating earthquakes around the South Sandwich Islands between 1991 and 2023, as well as data from Soviet and nuclear tests from the early 1970s and other studies on the inner core.

“The slowing down of the inner core is attributed to the churning of the liquid iron outer core that surrounds it. This churning creates a gravitational pull from the Earth’s magnetic field and the dense region of the rocky mantle above,” Prof Vidale explained.

“We can only speculate on how these changes in the inner core’s movement will impact the Earth’s surface.”

“The retreat of the inner core could briefly alter the length of the day. This alteration lasts for milliseconds and is almost imperceptible amid the noise of the ocean and atmosphere,” he added.

The study was published in the journal Nature.

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Wang others Retrograde motion of the inner core due to reversal of seismic waveform changes. Nature. Published online June 12, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07536-4

Source: www.sci.news

Quantum entanglement used by physicists to measure Earth’s rotation

Posted on June 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Physicists at the University of Vienna have used a maximally entangled quantum state of light paths in a large interferometer to experimentally measure the speed of the Earth’s rotation.

Silvestri othersThey have demonstrated the largest and most precise quantum-optical Sagnac interferometer to date, sensitive enough to measure the Earth’s rotation rate. Image courtesy of Marco Di Vita.

For over a century, interferometers have been key instruments for experimentally testing fundamental physical questions.

They disproved the ether as a light-transmitting medium, helped establish the theory of special relativity, and made it possible to measure tiny ripples in space-time itself known as gravitational waves.

Recent technological advances allow interferometers to work with a variety of quantum systems, including electrons, neutrons, atoms, superfluids, and Bose-Einstein condensates.

“When two or more particles are entangled, only the overall state is known; the states of the individual particles remain uncertain until they are measured,” said co-first author Dr. Philip Walther and his colleagues.

“Using this allows us to get more information per measurement than we would without it.”

“But the extremely delicate nature of quantum entanglement has prevented the expected leap in sensitivity.”

For their study, the authors built a large fiber-optic Sagnac interferometer that was stable with low noise for several hours.

This allows the detection of entangled photon pairs with a sufficiently high quality to exceed the rotational precision of conventional quantum-optical Sagnac interferometers by a factor of 1000.

“In a Sagnac interferometer, two particles moving in opposite directions on a rotating closed path reach a starting point at different times,” the researchers explained.

“When you have two entangled particles, you get a spooky situation: they behave like a single particle testing both directions simultaneously, accumulating twice the time delay compared to a scenario where no entanglement exists.”

“This unique property is known as super-resolution.”

In the experiment, two entangled photons propagated through a 2 km long optical fiber wound around a giant coil, creating an interferometer with an effective area of more than 700 m2.

The biggest hurdle the team faced was isolating and extracting the Earth’s stable rotation signal.

“The crux of the problem lies in establishing a measurement reference point where light is not affected by the Earth’s rotation,” said Dr Raffaele Silvestri, lead author of the study.

“Since we can’t stop the Earth’s rotation, we devised a workaround: split the optical fiber into two equal-length coils and connect them through an optical switch.”

“By switching it on and off, we were able to effectively cancel the rotation signal, which also increased the stability of larger equipment.”

“We’re basically tricking light into thinking it’s in a non-rotating universe.”

The research team succeeded in observing the effect of the Earth’s rotation on a maximally entangled two-photon state.

This confirms the interplay between rotating reference systems and quantum entanglement, as described in Einstein’s special theory of relativity and quantum mechanics, and represents a thousand-fold improvement in precision compared to previous experiments.

“A century after the first observations of the Earth’s rotation using light, this is an important milestone in that the entanglement of individual quanta of light is finally in the same region of sensitivity,” said co-first author Dr Haokun Yu.

“We believe that our findings and methods lay the foundation for further improving the rotational sensitivity of entanglement-based sensors.”

“This could pave the way for future experiments to test the behaviour of quantum entanglement through curves in space-time,” Dr Walther said.

Team work Published in a journal Scientific advances.

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Raffaele Silvestri others2024. Experimental Observation of Earth’s Rotation through Quantum Entanglement. Science Advances 10(24); doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ado0215

Source: www.sci.news

What is the maximum number of satellites and moons that could fit in Earth’s orbit?

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Dead Planets Society is a podcast that takes some crazy ideas for how to tinker with the universe and tests their effects against the laws of physics, from snapping the moon in half to causing doomsday events with gravitational waves. apple, Spotify or our Podcast Page.

One moon isn’t enough. While Earth only has one moon, other planets have many. Jupiter has 95 moons, putting its shining cosmic partner to shame with only one. In this episode of Dead Planets Society, we try to light up the night sky with as many moons as possible.

But it’s not as simple as just throwing a bunch of rocks into orbit. So in this episode, hosts Leah Crain and Chelsea White Shawn Raymond We asked a researcher from the University of Bordeaux in France for help with the details, who suggests we could build a ring of 10 moons, each of which would orbit Earth in different phases, causing strange little eclipses as they orbited the planet.

And it’s not just the moon. In 2018, Raymond and Juna Kollmeyer Researchers at the Carnegie Observatories in California have found that it’s theoretically possible for Earth’s moon to have its own orbital satellite, known as a lunar lunar. Such a satellite might not be stable due to the presence of a gravitational anomaly on the moon, so our host has been adding a giant hand blender to his space tool belt to try and smooth things over. If things get sorted, we could have a lunar lunar, or even a lunar lunar, lighting up the night sky.

The moon is bright because it reflects sunlight, and these new moons could be the perfect place to line up giant solar panels, unobstructed by the atmosphere and clouds that plague Earth’s surface. And because the moon is so bright, it would probably be impossible to see the stars from Earth’s surface, but in relatively small detail.

An even bigger problem is that the more complex and crowded the orbit, the greater the risk of these moons colliding with each other, which could give Earth beautiful rings like Saturn, but could also destroy life on Earth.

Dead Planets Society is a fun and subversive podcast about space. New ScientistIn each episode, hosts Leah Crain and Chelsea White explore what would happen if we were given cosmic powers to rearrange the universe. They speak to astronomers, cosmologists and geologists to find out what would happen if we ripped a hole in a planet, unified the asteroid belt or destroyed the sun. Dead Planets Society Season 2 continues with apple, Spotifyor our Podcast Page.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

What Causes Earth’s Atmosphere to be Dry?

Posted on June 11, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In recent decades, scientists have observed a decrease in atmospheric moisture leading to drying soils, water-starved plants, withering vegetation, and increased forest fires. This phenomenon is linked to wildfire and extreme drought events globally.Despite these observations, the cause of this air dryness remains unclear, and scientists aim to understand it better to enhance climate models for the future of Earth.

Scientists measure atmospheric dryness by comparing the air’s moisture-holding capacity to the actual moisture it holds, known as the “Insufficient steam pressure” or VPD. High VPD in certain areas can lead to soil dryness and surface heating, potentially causing severe droughts.

An international team of researchers examined VPD patterns in Europe to determine if rising levels are natural or a result of global warming. They investigated the difference between current VPD levels and those before industrialization to understand the impact of human activity on VPD changes.

To assess the historical impact of water on Europe’s climate, researchers analyzed Oxygen Isotopes found in tree rings. These isotopes reflect changes in parameters like rainfall and soil moisture influenced by VPD.

Using a Mass spectrometer, researchers analyzed oxygen isotope ratios in tree rings to track changes over time. By counting rings, they could determine the age of trees and obtain valuable data for their study.

The team gathered tree-ring data from various European sites, using Oxygen Isotope Measurements to reconstruct pre-industrial VPD records. They compared these reconstructions with historical data and Earth System Model simulations to understand the factors influencing VPD changes.

Their analysis revealed increasing VPD levels across all European regions studied, with the most significant dryness observed in southern mountainous areas. Industrial influences were found to be a significant factor in current air drying, particularly during summer.

The researchers noted that recent atmospheric drying in Europe is affecting climate and vegetation, impacting plant moisture exchange and growth. This change in atmospheric moisture levels poses risks to human health and the environment, especially in densely populated areas.

In conclusion, the drying of the atmosphere in Europe is attributed to global warming, leading to adverse effects on vegetation, tree growth, and food supplies. Further research is necessary to mitigate these risks and understand the long-term implications.

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Source: sciworthy.com

The “doomsday glacier” is melting at an alarming rate, putting Earth’s largest city in danger of flooding

Posted on June 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Considered one of West Antarctica’s most infamous glaciers, the “doomsday glacier” has earned its nickname due to the potentially significant rise in sea levels it could cause, ultimately reshaping coastlines. This glacier, known as Thwaites Glacier, is massive, the size of England and spanning 120km wide. It extends from the peak of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to the Amundsen Sea, where it reaches out onto an ice shelf.

Unfortunately, Thwaites Glacier is experiencing troubling changes, with a notable increase in ice loss over recent years as a consequence of climate change. The rate of ice loss has doubled in the past 30 years due to rising ocean temperatures, which lead to the melting of the ocean floor beneath the glacier. Warm water is being transported towards Thwaites, particularly deep below the ocean surface, contributing to this rapid ice loss. The land beneath West Antarctic glaciers is below sea level, and the sloping ocean floor means warmer waters can intrude underneath, eroding the glaciers and making them less stable.

A recent study revealed that Thwaites Glacier may be more susceptible than previously believed, with seawater surging beneath it for kilometers. The melting of glaciers, including Thwaites, could result in a significant rise in sea levels, potentially impacting coastal areas worldwide. Additionally, the collapse of Thwaites could trigger nearby glaciers to follow suit, further elevating global sea levels by more than three meters. This irreversible loss on human timescales would mark a critical “tipping point.”

Scientists are concerned about the potential collapse of Thwaites Glacier, as it could have disastrous consequences for sea levels and climate. Researchers are exploring strategies to adapt to these expected changes and protect coastal regions at risk of submersion. The costs of preparing for rising sea levels are substantial, emphasizing the importance of proactive planning and adaptation. While sea level rise is inevitable, proactive measures can help mitigate its impact and protect vulnerable populations and ecosystems.

Read More:

Despite the impending challenges, scientists and experts emphasize the importance of courage and adaptation in the face of climate change. Dr. Caitlen Norton from the British Antarctic Survey stresses the need for resilience and preparedness to address the growing threat of rising sea levels. Adapting defenses, protecting coastal areas, and planning for future changes are crucial steps in mitigating the impact of climate change on coastal regions.

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Source: www.sciencefocus.com

A New Study Estimates the Volume of Water Flowing Through Earth’s Rivers

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Accurate assessments of global river flows and water storage are important to inform water management practices, but current estimates of global river flows represent a significant spread, and river storage Estimates remain sparse. Estimates of river flow and water storage are hampered by uncertainty in land runoff, an unobserved quantity that provides water withdrawal to rivers. In a new study, geoscientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and elsewhere leverage an ensemble of global streamflow observations and land surface models to create a globally gauge-corrected monthly streamflow and storage dataset. Generating. They estimate the average global river storage capacity to be 2,246 km .³ (This is equivalent to half of the water in Lake Michigan, about 0.006% of all fresh water, which itself is equivalent to 2.5% of the Earth's volume) and 37,411 km of the world's continental streams.³ per year.

collins other. Estimates flows through 3 million river segments characterized by intense human water use, including the Colorado River, Amazon River, Orange River, and parts of the Murray-Darling River basin (shown here in gray) identified locations around the world. Image credit: NASA.

Rivers are considered the most renewable, most accessible, and therefore most sustainable sources of fresh water.

Therefore, several studies have attempted to quantify the world's river waters.

However, surprisingly little is known about the average and temporal variation in global river water storage, and even more so, about the temporal variation in global river discharge.

“Over the years, researchers have made numerous estimates of how much water flows from rivers to the ocean, but estimates of how much water rivers collectively hold (known as water storage) “There are fewer and more uncertainties,” said Dr. Cedric David. A researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“We don't know how much water we have in our accounts. Population growth and climate change are further complicating the problem.”

“There are many things we can do to manage our water usage and ensure there is enough water for everyone, but the first question is: How much water do we have? It's the basis of everything else. is.”

In this study, Dr. David and colleagues used a new methodology that combines flow meter measurements with computer models of about 3 million river segments around the world.

They identified the Amazon Basin as the region with the most river water storage, with approximately 850 km of water storage.³ Water amount – approximately 38% of global estimates.

The same basin discharges the most water into the ocean: 6,789 km³ per year. This corresponds to 18% of the emissions into the world's oceans, which average 37,411 km.³ Years from 1980 to 2009.

Although it is impossible for a river to have a negative flow rate, the study's computational approach does not take into account upstream flows, but it is possible that some river segments receive less water than they enter. It may leak.

Researchers found similar findings in parts of the Colorado, Amazon, and Orange river basins, as well as the Murray-Darling basin in southeastern Australia. These negative flows mainly indicate heavy water use by humans.

“These are places where we see evidence of water management,” says Dr. Elissa Collins, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

of study Published in a magazine natural earth science.

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Elle Collins other. Global patterns of river water storage dependent on residence time. nut.earth science, published online March 15, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41561-024-01421-5

Source: www.sci.news

Researchers Discover Oldest Evidence of Earth’s Magnetic Field in Greenland

Posted on April 25, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Recovering ancient records of the Earth's magnetic field is difficult because the magnetization of rocks is often reset by heating during burial due to tectonic movements over a long and complex geological history. Geoscientists from MIT and elsewhere have shown that rocks in West Greenland's Isua supercrustal zone have experienced three thermal events throughout their geological history. The first event was the most important, heating rocks to 550 degrees Celsius about 3.7 billion years ago. His two subsequent phenomena did not heat the region's northernmost rocks above 380 degrees Celsius. The authors use multiple lines of evidence to test this claim, including paleomagnetic field tests, metamorphic mineral assemblages across the region, and temperatures at which the radiometric ages of observed mineral assemblages are reset. They use this body of evidence to argue that an ancient record of Earth's magnetic field from 3.7 billion years ago may be preserved in the striated iron layer at the northernmost edge of the magnetic field. .

Earth's magnetic field lines. Image credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

In a new study, Professor Claire Nicholls from the University of Oxford and colleagues examined a range of ancient iron-bearing rocks from Isua, Greenland.

Once locked in place during the crystallization process, iron particles effectively act as tiny magnets that can record both the strength and direction of a magnetic field.

Researchers found that 3.7 billion-year-old rocks exhibited magnetic field strengths of at least 15 microteslas, comparable to modern magnetic fields (30 microteslas).

These results provide the oldest estimates of the strength of Earth's magnetic field derived from whole rock samples, providing a more accurate and reliable estimate than previous studies using individual crystals.

“It's very difficult to extract reliable records from rocks this old, so it was really exciting to see the primary magnetic signals start to emerge when we analyzed these samples in the lab,” Professor Nichols said. said.

“This is a very important step forward in our efforts to understand the role of ancient magnetic fields in the creation of life on Earth.”

Although the strength of the magnetic field appears to remain relatively constant, the solar wind is known to have been significantly stronger in the past.

This suggests that surface protection from the solar wind may have strengthened over time, thereby allowing life to leave the protection of the oceans and migrate to the continents.

The Earth's magnetic field is created by the mixing of molten iron within a fluid outer core, driven by buoyancy as the inner core solidifies, forming a dynamo.

During the early stages of Earth's formation, a solid inner core had not yet formed, leaving unanswered questions about how the initial magnetic field was maintained.

These new results suggest that the mechanisms driving Earth's early dynamo were as efficient as the solidification processes that generate Earth's magnetic field today.

Understanding how the strength of Earth's magnetic field has changed over time is also key to determining when Earth's interior solid core began to form.

This helps us understand how fast heat is escaping from the Earth's deep interior, which is key to understanding processes such as plate tectonics.

A key challenge in reconstructing Earth's magnetic field back in time is that any event that heats rocks can change the preserved signal.

Rocks in the Earth's crust often have long and complex geological histories that erase information about previous magnetic fields.

However, the Isua supercrustal zone has a unique geology, sitting on a thick continental crust and protected from extensive tectonic movements and deformation.

This allowed scientists to build clear evidence for the existence of magnetic fields 3.7 billion years ago.

The results may also provide new insights into the role of magnetic fields in shaping the development of Earth's atmosphere as we know it, particularly regarding the release of gases into the atmosphere.

“In the future, we hope to expand our knowledge of Earth's magnetic field before oxygen increased in the Earth's atmosphere about 2.5 billion years ago by examining other ancient rock sequences in Canada, Australia, and South Africa. “We believe that this is the case,” the authors said.

“A better understanding of the strength and variability of ancient Earth's magnetic field will help determine whether the planet's magnetic field was important for harboring life on the planet's surface and its role in the evolution of the atmosphere. Masu.”

of study Published in Geophysical Research Journal.

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Claire IO Nichols other. 2024. Possible Archean record of geomagnetism preserved in the Isua supercrustal zone of southwestern Greenland. Geophysical Research Journal 129 (4): e2023JB027706; doi: 10.1029/2023JB027706

Source: www.sci.news

There is a bizarre phenomenon occurring with Earth’s seismic activity: Here’s why

Posted on April 3, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

In the realm of earthquakes, one should always anticipate the unexpected. This is the message conveyed by seismologists Professor Eric Curry from Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS) in Paris, and Jean François Ritz, the Director of CNRS Laboratoire Géosciences in Montpellier.

At the core of their counsel lies the fact that earthquakes can occur in unexpected places. These enigmatic occurrences, known as intraplate earthquakes, manifest in geologically tranquil locations, distant from the active boundaries of tectonic plates.

The French scientists are dedicated to comprehending and elucidating these phenomena.

Unpredictable and Destructive

The blocks of rock forming the fragile outer shell of our planet move gradually across the Earth’s surface, at a pace akin to the growth rate of a human fingernail.

While the majority of geological activity of note transpires where plates converge, intraplate earthquakes diverge from this norm, occurring within plates, far from their peripheries.

Curry and Ritz have a compelling motive to shine a light on this topic, given that intraplate earthquakes are infrequent, with a limited number of notable occurrences compared to earthquakes at plate boundaries. Professor Curry noted that only around 20 earthquakes measuring 6 or more in magnitude have been recorded since 1974. This amounts to less than half the percentage of similar-sized earthquakes observed at plate edges during the same timeframe. Their scarcity and protracted duration render them challenging to forecast, yet they have the potential to inflict considerable devastation on unprepared urban centers that have never viewed earthquakes as a pressing concern.

Intraplate earthquakes can transpire wherever geological faults exist within the Earth’s crust. Over the past centuries, they have been documented in locations as diverse as Basel, Switzerland, New York, Boston in the United States, and the St. Lawrence River in Canada.

More recently, they wrought havoc in the Australian city of Newcastle, as well as in Botswana and Puebla, Mexico in 2017, resulting in nearly 400 fatalities in the latter.

The Magnitude of the Problem

Curry and Ritz garnered attention for a magnitude 5 earthquake near the Rhone Valley village of Le Teil in 2019, while a magnitude 5.2 earthquake shook the Lincolnshire town of Market Larsen in England in 2008. Termed the “Larsen Earthquake” by local newspapers, it caused one injury and incurred damages estimated at around £20 million. The seismic events in the UK and France tend to be minor, contrasting with occurrences in other global regions.

The most devastating intraplate earthquake of modern times took place in 2001, with a magnitude of 7.6, striking Bhuj, Gujarat, India. This catastrophic event razed an estimated 300,000 edifices and claimed the lives of up to 20,000 individuals. Looking back to 1886, a around magnitude 7 earthquake hit Charleston on the US east coast, resulting in 60 casualties and widespread devastation. A few years later, the New Madrid, Missouri area endured three potent intraplate earthquakes measuring up to magnitude 7.5, inducing violent tremors across the vicinity.

The rarity of these seismic episodes, combined with their potential for extensive destruction, underscores the urgency for a deeper understanding of intraplate earthquakes.

Increasing Tension

Both intraplate and plate margin earthquakes share a common operational mechanism. Essentially, strain builds up over time on geological faults within the Earth’s crust until it reaches a critical threshold, leading to fault rupture or slippage, thereby generating earthquakes. The release of this built-up energy in the form of seismic waves alleviates the strain. However, the process begins anew as strain accumulates again. Although the process mirrors itself in both types of earthquakes, the triggers that prompt rupture likely differ.

Curry and Ritz propose that while fault rupture at plate margins is predominantly instigated by plate movements, intraplate earthquakes within the plate’s interior are spurred by discrete triggers that occur rapidly on geological time scales. Such triggers could encompass various phenomena such as unloading due to ice sheet melting, surface erosion, rain infiltration, or fluid displacement from the Earth’s mantle.

Intraplate Complexity

It’s worth noting that a fault primed for rupture can be triggered by an equivalent pressure to a handshake. Consequently, even though millions of years may have been necessary for strain to accumulate on ancient intraplate faults, their activation could unfold swiftly over a brief period. Curry and Ritz explored the Le Teil earthquake of 2019 and concluded that it was probably triggered by the shedding of the upper crust following the region’s glacier recession post the Ice Age, possibly triggered by a nearby quarry.

The unloading and deformation of the Earth’s crust post the rapid melting of colossal ice sheets about 20,000 to 10,000 years before the present epoch is presumed to have catalyzed numerous intraplate earthquakes, including those at New Madrid, Charleston, and Basel. At the decline of the Ice Age, Norway and Sweden witnessed a surge in seismic events as the 3 km thick Scandinavian ice sheet melted rapidly, unburdening intraplate faults underneath it, and releasing accumulated strain over thousands of years.

This period witnessed several sizable earthquakes with one heaving about 8,200 years ago, instigating a massive underwater landslide off Norway’s coast, engendering a North Atlantic Ocean tsunami with crest heights reaching 20 meters across the Shetland Islands and 6 meters along Scotland’s eastern coastline.

Prediction Problems

The intricacies of predicting intraplate earthquakes pose a formidable challenge, as Curry highlights, stating, “For these peculiar earthquakes, calculating future risk is highly intricate, particularly given their sporadic nature in specific locales. Objective indicators for evaluating future intraplate seismicity are lacking.”

Despite the convolutions associated with predicting intraplate earthquakes, research concerning the peril posed by these events in historically affected regions is critical. The burgeoning urbanization in areas with past intraplate earthquake history is cause for concern.

Currently, more than half of the global populace resides in urban centers, with cities in regions susceptible to intraplate earthquakes witnessing substantial expansion. Basel, Switzerland, for instance, the nation’s second-largest urban conurbation with a populace of approximately 500,000, serves as a key hub for banking and the chemical sector. In the event of an earthquake akin to the one in 1356, the outcomes would be significantly more severe, portending thousands of casualties and severe property damages.

Similarly, Charleston in the United States, with a population exceeding 550,000, now finds itself at the heart of a bustling city characterized by stone and concrete edifices, rendering it vulnerable to calamitous consequences if struck by an earthquake akin to the 1886 event.

Looking towards the future, the specter of global warming looms large, with the potential to increase intraplate seismic activity as glacial and ice sheet melts diminish the underlying crust’s load, sparking fault ruptures and strain release accumulated over millennia.

The ramifications of such seismic events reverberate across a broad cross-section of society, driving home the importance of preparedness and vigilance in regions prone to intraplate earthquakes.

Source: www.sciencefocus.com

The Melting of Polar Ice Could Alter Earth’s Rotation and Timekeeping.

Posted on March 27, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Global warming is causing the Earth’s rotation to slow slightly, which could affect the way we measure time.

A study published Wednesday found that the melting of polar ice, a trend accelerated primarily by anthropogenic climate change, is causing the Earth to spin more slowly than it would otherwise.

Study author Duncan Agnew, a geophysicist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, said melting polar ice changes where the Earth’s mass is concentrated. This change affects the planet’s angular velocity.

Agnew likened the dynamic to a figure skater spinning around on ice. He said, “If a skater starts spinning and lowers his arms or extends his legs, he will slow down.” However, if the skater’s arms are pulled inward, the skater will rotate faster.

So less solid ice at the poles means more mass around the equator, at the Earth’s waist.

“What melting ice does is take water that has solidified in places like Antarctica or Greenland, and when that frozen water melts, it moves that liquid to other parts of the planet. “Thomas Herring said. He was a professor of geophysics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology but was not involved in the new research. “Water flows toward the equator.”

In other words, this study shows how human influence can successfully manipulate forces that have puzzled scholars, stargazers, and scientists for millennia: forces long thought to be constants beyond human control. It suggests that it has happened.

“It’s kind of impressive, even to me, that we were able to accomplish something that measurably changed the rotational speed of the Earth,” Agnew said. “Something unprecedented is happening.”

His research, published in the journal Nature, suggests that climate change is playing a significant enough role in the Earth’s rotation to delay the possibility of a “negative leap second.” If the polar ice hadn’t melted, clocks around the world might have needed to subtract one second by 2026 to synchronize universal time with the Earth’s rotation, which is influenced by a variety of factors.

Rather, the impact of climate change has delayed that outlook by an estimated three years. If timekeeping organizations ultimately decide to add negative leap seconds, the adjustment could disrupt computer networks.

A view of the Earth captured by a deep space climate observation satellite.NASA

The leap second adjustment is necessary because even without climate change, the Earth’s daily rotation tends to slow down over time, even though it appears constant.

Studies show that about 70 million years ago, days became even shorter, lasting about 23.5 hours. Implications of paleoceanography and paleoclimatology. This means that Cretaceous dinosaurs experienced 372 planetary days a year.

Several important factors influence a planet’s rotation, but they sometimes act in opposition.

Due in part to the moon’s gravitational pull, tidal friction in the oceans slows the Earth’s rotation. Meanwhile, since the last Ice Age, the Earth’s crust has been uplifting in some areas in response to the removal of ice sheet weight. This effect changes the distribution of mass, causing the planet to spin faster. Both of these processes are approximately constant and have predictable rates.

Yet another factor is the movement of fluids within Earth’s liquid inner core, a wild card that can either speed up or slow down Earth’s rotation, Agnew said.

Here, melted polar ice was added to the mix. As climate change intensifies, researchers expect melting ice to have an even more profound effect on the Earth’s rotation.

“As we predict, as melting accelerates over time, its contribution will become even larger,” Herring said. He added that the new study is a thorough and robust analysis that combines research from multiple scientific fields.

The need for timekeepers to adjust universal time to match the Earth’s rotation is not a new phenomenon. But historically, this involved adding leap seconds to the common standard for clocks. This is because astronomical time lags behind atomic time (measured by the vibrations of atoms in atomic clocks) due to the slowing of the Earth’s rotation.

But in recent decades, changes in the Earth’s core have caused the Earth to rotate faster than expected. This has led timekeepers, for the first time since Coordinated Universal Time was officially adopted in the 1960s, to consider whether it makes sense to subtract leap seconds to synchronize universal time with the Earth’s rotation. Ta.

The melting of polar ice counteracted that trend, avoiding any decision points regarding negative leap seconds. According to Agnew’s estimates, if the current rate of Earth’s rotation is maintained, it will likely be delayed by three years from 2026 to 2029.

Adding or subtracting leap seconds is troublesome because it can disrupt satellite, financial, and energy transmission systems that rely on very precise timing. For that purpose, Timekeepers around the world have voted to abolish leap seconds in 2022. By 2035, addition and subtraction will shift universal time from the pace of the Earth’s rotation.

“Since around 2000, there has been a movement to abolish leap seconds,” Agnew said.

Regardless of whether the clocks ultimately change, the idea that melting polar ice is affecting the Earth’s rotation speaks to how important an issue it has become. Studies have already shown that ice loss has significant impacts on coastal communities.

Scientists predict that sea level rise will accelerate as the climate warms, a process that will continue for hundreds of years. Last year, leading polar researchers warned in a report that parts of the major ice sheets could collapse and coastal regions should brace for several feet of sea level rise. If humans allowed global average temperatures to rise by 2 degrees Celsius, Earth could see sea levels rise by more than 40 feet.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Research suggests that Mars enhances Earth’s deep ocean circulation

Posted on March 14, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Australian and French geoscientists have used the geological record of Earth's deep ocean to discover a link between our home planet and the orbit of Mars. They discovered a surprising 2.4 million-year cycle of increase and decrease in deep ocean currents, which they found was related to periods of increased solar energy and climate warming.

This image from Mars Express' high-resolution stereo camera shows the Martian Earth set against a dark background. The planet's disk is speckled with yellow, orange, blue, and green, giving it an overall muted shade of gray, representing the varying composition of its surface. Image credit: ESA / DLR / FU Berlin / G. Michael / CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO.

“In 1976, scientists first demonstrated and confirmed the presence of 10,000- to 100,000-year astronomical cycles in deep-sea Pleistocene sediments. Milutin Milanković's theory “Earth's climate is regulated by the periodicity of perturbations in the Earth's orbit around the Sun and Earth's axis of rotation,” said Adriana Dutkiewicz, a researcher at the University of Sydney, and colleagues.

“Apart from the well-known astronomical cycles of 19,000, 23,000, 41,000, 100,000, and 400,000 years, which vary according to the Earth's climate, the geological record includes Large-period signals with longer periods are also included.”

“These large cycles contain orbitally forced periodicities of millions or even tens of millions of years, which are similarly related to incoming solar energy and paleoclimate changes. I am.”

In a new study, the authors used deep-sea sediment records to confirm the link between sediment movement and changes in Earth's orbit.

They discovered that the strength of deep ocean currents changes over a 2.4 million year cycle.

“We were surprised to find these 2.4 million-year cycles in deep-sea sediment data,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“There's only one way to explain them. They're related to the cycle of Mars-Earth interactions around the sun.”

“The gravitational fields of the planets in our solar system interfere with each other, and this interaction, called resonance, changes the planet's eccentricity, a measure of how circular a planet's orbit is.”

“For Earth, that means a 2.4-million-year period of increased solar radiation and a warming climate.”

The researchers found that warming cycles are associated with an increase in deep ocean circulation, which correlates with increased breaks in the deep ocean record.

They identified deep eddies as a key component of early ocean warming.

Although these may partially alleviate ocean stagnation, some predict that subsequent stagnation may follow. AMOC (Atlantic meridional overturning circulation) drives the Gulf Stream and maintains Europe's warm climate.

“We now know that there are at least two distinct mechanisms that contribute to the active mixing of deep water in the ocean,” Professor Müller said.

“Deep-ocean eddies, of which AMOC is one, appear to play an important role in keeping the ocean ventilated in warmer climates.”

“Of course, it doesn't have the same effect as the AMOC in terms of transporting water masses from lower to higher latitudes and vice versa.”

“These eddies are like giant whirlpools that often reach the ocean floor in deep oceans, resulting in seafloor erosion and the accumulation of large sediments called contours that resemble snowdrifts.”

“Our deep-sea data over 65 million years suggests that there is a more active deep circulation in warmer oceans,” Dr. Dutkiewicz said.

“This could prevent ocean stagnation even if the AMOC slows down or stops altogether.”

of study It was published in the magazine nature communications.

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A. Dutkiewicz other. 2024. Deep-sea hibernation records reveal orbital pacing with an orbital eccentricity of 2.4 million grand cycles. Nat Commune 15th, 1998. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-46171-5

Source: www.sci.news

The gravitational force of Mars could potentially disturb Earth’s oceans

Posted on March 12, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

The planets are doing a gravitational dance around the sun

Shutterstock/Johan Swanepoel

Mars’ gravitational pull could be strong enough to shake up Earth’s oceans and shift sediment as part of a 2.4 million-year climate cycle, researchers claim.

It has long been recognized that wobbles in Earth’s orbit around the sun affect Earth’s climate, and these Milankovitch cycles operate at intervals measured in thousands of years. Now, Adriana Dutkiewicz and his colleagues at the University of Sydney say they have discovered a 2.4-million-year “great cycle” that is driven by Mars and has dramatically affected the flow of Earth’s oceans for at least 40 million years. It is believed that it has been given.

Evidence for this cycle comes from approximately 300 deep-sea drill cores, revealing unexpected fluctuations in marine sediment deposition. During periods of stable ocean currents, oceanographers expect sediment to be deposited in stable layers, but when abnormal currents or eddies occur, sediment can be deposited elsewhere.

The researchers say the gaps or hiatus in the sediment record coincide with the period when Mars’ gravity exerts its greatest force on Earth, exerting subtle effects on the stability of Earth’s orbit. This changes solar radiation levels and climate, manifesting as stronger currents and eddies in the ocean.

team members Dietmar MullerResearchers, also from the University of Sydney, acknowledged that the great distance between Earth and Mars makes it unlikely that there is any significant gravitational force at work. “But there is so much feedback that even the slightest change can be amplified,” he says. “Mars’ influence on Earth’s climate is similar to the butterfly effect.”

benjamin mills Researchers from the University of Leeds in the UK say the drill core provides further evidence of the existence of “megacycles” in global environmental change.

“Many of us have seen these multimillion-year cycles in various geological, geochemical, and biological records, such as during the famous Cambrian explosion of animal life,” he said. says. “This paper helps solidify these ideas as an important part of environmental change.”

but matthew england A professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney welcomed the study and said he believed it would improve our understanding of climate cycles on a geological scale, but said he was not convinced by the paper’s conclusions.

“I’m skeptical about the Mars connection, given that Mars’ gravitational pull on Earth is very weak, only about a millionth of the Sun’s gravitational pull,” he says. “Even Jupiter has a stronger gravitational field than Earth.”

The UK also points out that even if there is an impact from Mars, it will be negligible compared to human-induced climate change. “By comparison, greenhouse gas forcing is like a sledgehammer and has no effect on our current climate, where melting ice sheets are reducing ocean circulation.”

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Study suggests Mimas, one of Saturn’s moons, could be responsible for forming Earth’s oceans beneath its icy shell

Posted on February 7, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

From a detailed analysis of Mimas’s orbital motion based on data from NASA’s Cassini mission, planetary researchers from the Sorbonne, the University of Nantes, Queen Mary University of London, Franche-Comte University, and Jinan University have discovered that the heavily cratered They showed that some ice shells hide recently formed ice shells. (less than 2-3 million years ago) global ocean 20-30 km deep.

The surface of Mimas, like the surfaces of other major Saturn moons that do not have atmospheres, is not pure ice but contains some black impurities. Relatively dark markings appear along the lower part of the walls of the 130km-wide Herschel Crater (the crater's central peak is about the same height as Mount Everest); the impact may have all but destroyed the Moon. there is). some small craters. Scientists interpret the darkening as evidence that the impurities have gradually become concentrated as icy material evaporates in areas where they are slowly sliding down the crater walls. Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute.

There is growing evidence that some moons may have oceans beneath their surfaces, but such watery worlds are difficult to detect.

Mimas — Saturn's innermost and smallest (radius = 198.2 km, or 123 miles) regular moon — is an unlikely candidate due to the different nature of its surface compared to other icy moons such as Enceladus .

This theory has been challenged by Sorbonne University researcher Valerie Rainey and others who are evaluating Cassini's observations of small satellites.

Previous research suggests two possibilities inside Mimas. It is either an elongated rocky core or a global ocean.

A new study reveals that the small moon's rotational motion and orbit change due to internal influences.

For the solid-state model to apply, the rock core must be elongated and approximately pancake-shaped, which is inconsistent with observations.

Rather, measurements of Mimas' position suggest that the evolution of its orbit is better explained as influenced by an internal ocean.

The researchers calculate that the ocean lies beneath an ice shell about 20 to 30 kilometers deep.

Their simulations suggest that it appeared between 25 and 2 million years ago.

Therefore, signs of such an underground ocean would not have had time to leave traces on the surface.

This result suggests that recent processes on Mimas may have been common during the early stages of the formation of other ice worlds.

“Mimas was a small moon with a cratered surface and no sign of an ocean hidden beneath,” said co-author Nick Cooper, a researcher at Queen Mary University of London. the doctor said.

“With this discovery, Mimas joins an exclusive club of moons with inland oceans, including Enceladus and Europa, but with a unique difference: its oceans are surprisingly young.”

of study Published in today's magazine Nature.

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V. Rainey other. 2024. A recently formed ocean within Saturn's moon Mimas. Nature 626, 280-282; doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-06975-9

Source: www.sci.news

The Formation and Potential Destruction of the Himalayas by Earth’s Tectonic Plates

Posted on February 6, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Deep underground in the heart of Asia, two giant plates are colliding with each other. Violent, slow-motion collisions between the geological plates are continuously shaping the towering Himalayas. However, newly discovered research suggests that this ongoing tectonic collision is also dividing Tibet in half.

A group of Chinese and American scientists conducted a study of underground seismic waves from earthquakes in and around Tibet and analyzed the geochemical composition of gases in surface hot springs. They found evidence that the Indian plate may be behaving unexpectedly as it collides with the Eurasian plate.

This research, which has not yet undergone peer review, was presented at the American Geophysical Union’s annual meeting in December. The scientists theorize that as the Indian plate continues its thrust beneath the Eurasian plate, it may be splitting apart beneath Tibet, separating the eastern and western halves of the slab. This fissure could have significant implications for the stability of the region, increasing the risk of earthquakes and other hazards.

The findings of the study provide an interesting and plausible explanation for the dynamic activity in this region, according to Barbara Romanowitz, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. She also suggests that this potential split in the Indian plate may create a zone of weakness that could lead to large earthquakes.

The study proposes that the lithospheric mantle, one of the hard parts of the Earth’s crust, are sloughing off, leaving the crust behind, causing controversy within the scientific community as to how the collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates would occur or what it would mean for the Earth.

The region where this collision is occurring is unique and serves as a natural laboratory for scientists to understand the process of continental collision in real time. It is compared to a game of hide-and-seek, providing a brief snapshot of a particular process of continental collision.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

The reason behind the burning up of Hayabusa’s lunar lander in Earth’s atmosphere.

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

Launch of the Peregrine Lunar Module on a Vulcan rocket on January 8th

APFootage / Alamy Stock Photo

The mission of the Hayabusa lander is over. The American company that built Astrobotic, a lunar lander whose plans failed, was unable to complete its trip to the moon due to a fuel leak, so it was brought back and burned in Earth's atmosphere.

What was wrong with the Hayabusa lander?

Just seven hours after launching on a Vulcan rocket on January 8, engineers noticed that Peregrine wasn't facing the right direction and its solar panels weren't charging the batteries that power its electronics. Shortly afterward, it was discovered that fuel was leaking from the aircraft. It was eventually determined that the oxidizer tank had ruptured, probably due to a stuck valve, and that the leak had generated a small amount of thrust, causing the probe to change direction. By the time everything was figured out, Peregrine had already lost too much fuel to reach the moon, let alone perform the maneuvers needed to land gently on the moon.

The peregrine falcon was in space for days, but what was it doing all that time?

Astrobotic's engineers were able to correct Peregrine's orientation, and once the solar panels were oriented in the correct direction, the battery was charged. This will allow Peregrine operators to perform a quick test ignition of the main engine and power on the onboard spacecraft, allowing them to better understand the spacecraft's operation in space and determine what went wrong. Helpful. They also remotely switched on some scientific instruments and made measurements of radiation in interplanetary space that could provide useful scientific insights. By operating the spacecraft for several days, Astrobotic will also be able to decide whether to extend its mission in space by changing from its planned moon landing, or continue on its way back to Earth. I was given time to do it.

Why did it have to be brought back to Earth rather than left in space?

Although the peregrine falcon could have survived a little longer in Earth orbit, there were some risks to leaving it there. Eventually, the spacecraft will run out of fuel completely and become essentially a cannonball flying uncontrollably around the Earth. This type of space debris can cause significant damage to operating satellites.a statement The Astrobotic article says: “Ultimately, we have to balance the risk of a damaged spacecraft causing problems with our own desire to extend Peregrine's life, operate the payload, and learn more about the spacecraft. .”

Wouldn't it be dangerous to bring it back to Earth?

It's actually much safer to return the spacecraft to Earth. Satellites are regularly deorbited in this way, usually burning up in the incredible heat they experience as they plummet through the atmosphere. The falcon was also carefully targeted towards the Pacific Ocean just east of Australia to minimize the risk of any surviving debris hitting populated areas.

What about the other things Peregrine was carrying?

In addition to scientific instruments, the spacecraft also carried two controversial payloads sent into space by a company called Celestis, which provides what is called a “commemorative spaceflight.” These two vessels of hers contained cremated human remains. Star Trek Creator Gene Roddenberry and actors James Doohan and Nichelle Nichols. It is unclear whether the capsule survived Earth's atmosphere and ended up in the ocean.

Why do missions to the moon continue to fail?

Indeed, this is the third mission to land on the moon that has failed in the last year, but that's only partially due to the difficulty of sending a probe into space and making a soft landing hundreds of thousands of kilometers away. Lunar landing attempts have also increased significantly, many using new equipment and protocols that have not yet been tested. While there are understandably some growing pains, more moon landings are planned in the future, and Astrobotic executives are already discussing plans to try again.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Hayabusa lunar lander meets fiery fate as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere

Posted on January 19, 2024 by Igor Mitreski

After more than a week in space, the doomed lunar lander met a violent end Thursday as it burned up in Earth’s atmosphere, ending its mission.

A private spacecraft named Peregrine was designed to travel to the moon and settle on its surface. However, shortly after launching into orbit on January 8, the lander suffered a severe propellant leak, forcing operators to abort the entire mission.

Astrobotic Technology, the Pittsburgh-based company that developed the lander, said Thursday that the limp spacecraft safely burned up in Earth’s atmosphere in a remote stretch of the South Pacific Ocean at about 4:04 p.m. ET. announced.

in Updates posted on XThe company confirmed it had lost contact with the spacecraft just before 4 p.m. ET, suggesting the lander had re-entered the atmosphere, but officials said they were “waiting for independent confirmation from a government agency.” ” he added.

An early failure left the Peregrine lander with no means of reaching the moon. Astrobotic’s team fought for nine days to save the spacecraft and its onboard equipment and extend the remainder of the mission.

Engineers were able to stabilize the spacecraft, but Astrobotic said last week it would not be possible to attempt a controlled landing on the moon.

“We applaud @Astrobotic’s perseverance,” NASA announced Tuesday. Statement posted on X.

The Peregrine mission attracted attention because it was the first American lunar lander launched into space in more than 50 years. If successful, Peregrine would also have become the first commercially developed spacecraft to land on the moon.

Besides NASA, the former Soviet Union, China, and India are the only countries to have successfully made a controlled landing, or “soft landing,” on the moon’s surface. Japan aims to join that elite club on Friday when it attempts to land its Smart Lander for Lunar Exploration (SLIM).

Peregrine’s mission is part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Module Services Program, which was established to encourage private companies to develop new lunar landers and ultimately help NASA bring cargo and scientific equipment to the lunar surface. You can now hire this lander for transport.

Another Houston-based company, Intuitive Machines, plans to launch its own commercially developed lander next month as part of the same NASA effort.

The Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program is part of the agency’s Artemis program, with the goal of returning astronauts to the Moon over the next few years, eventually establishing regular flights to the Moon, and building a lunar base camp. It is said that NASA recently announced the postponement of two upcoming Artemis missions, pushing back a lunar circumnavigation flight that was scheduled to launch later this year to 2025 and pushing back Artemis’s first landing attempt to next year.

Source: www.nbcnews.com

For the First Time, NASA Unveils World Map of Earth’s Surface Minerals

Posted on December 22, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

NASA’s EMIT has produced the first global map of hematite, goethite, and kaolinite in the dry regions of Earth using data from the year ending November 2023. The mission collected billions of data measurements of three different minerals along with seven minerals that could impact climate when released into the air. The mission, EMIT, aims to provide a detailed map of the mineral composition of Earth’s dust source regions, which can help scientists model the impact of fine particles on climate change.

EMIT launched to the International Space Station in 2022, will be launched by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and surveys the Earth’s surface from approximately 250 miles in the air. The mission captures high-resolution images to create detailed maps of surface composition and is capable of detecting plumes of methane and carbon dioxide emitted by various human activities. EMIT’s data will be used to improve climate models and study the effects of dust on global ecosystems, including its impact on phytoplankton blooms and the transport of essential nutrients over long distances.

In addition to tracking the 10 major minerals as part of its primary mission, EMIT’s data also tracks other minerals, vegetation types, snow and ice, and even humans at or near the surface. The instrument was selected from NASA’s Earth Venture Instrument-4 public offering and is managed by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. The data collected by EMIT is publicly available for use by other researchers and the public at the NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center.

Source: scitechdaily.com

Strange Alien Planet Indicates Earth’s Survival After Sun’s Demise

Posted on December 22, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Mark Garlick/Science Photo Library

When I found out the date of the end of the Earth, everything seemed so simple. Five billion years from now, the solar system will have changed dramatically. Instead of the gentle presence we are accustomed to, the sun will become a behemoth, hundreds of times larger than it is today. In the process, it will wipe out the rocky inner planets, including our own.

Or will it be? We recently witnessed the death stages of another star for the first time. And miraculously, it seems some planets will be able to survive this apocalyptic era. Observations like these call into question the story of how the Earth will die, and give us hope that somehow the Earth may outlast the Sun. Even if it doesn’t, all is not lost. The study also provides clues as to where humans might best seek refuge.

How does the sun die?

The sun is powered by nuclear fusion. In nuclear fusion, hydrogen atoms fuse into helium, releasing a huge amount of energy in the process. However, the fate of our star is determined by one fact. This means that the supply of hydrogen is limited. As this energy begins to deplete, in about another 5 billion years, the Sun’s internal structure will change and it will expand to about 200 times its current size. It will change from the current yellow dwarf to a red giant. After another billion years, the star shrinks and expands again, before disappearing and becoming a stellar corpse called a white dwarf.

As it grows…

Source: www.newscientist.com

Decoding Earth’s magnetosphere: A simplified understanding

Posted on December 20, 2023 by Igor Mitreski

Earth’s magnetosphere, essential for protecting us from solar radiation, is in sharp contrast to Mars, which has lost its protective field. Studying this shield, especially through NASA missions such as the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission, is important for understanding space weather and its effects on Earth.

What is Earth’s magnetosphere?

Enveloping our planet and protecting us from the wrath of the sun is a giant magnetic bubble called the magnetosphere. It deflects most of the solar material that rushes toward us from our star at more than 1 million miles per hour. Without the magnetosphere, the relentless activity of these solar particles could strip Earth of the protective layer that protects us from the sun’s ultraviolet rays. It is clear that this magnetic bubble was the key to the development of Earth into a habitable planet.

The magnetosphere envelops our planet and protects us from the brunt of the sun, and is key to Earth’s development into a habitable planet. credit: NASA

Earth vs. Mars: The role of the magnetosphere

compare with earth Mars – A planet that lost its magnetosphere about 4.2 billion years ago. It is thought that solar winds stripped away most of Mars’ atmosphere, probably after the Red Planet’s magnetic field disappeared. As a result, Mars is the desolate, barren world we see today through the “eyes” of NASA’s orbiters and probes. In contrast, Earth’s magnetosphere appears to continue to protect the atmosphere.

“If we didn’t have the magnetic field, we might be left with a completely different atmosphere, devoid of life as we know it,” said Eftihir Zesta of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center’s Geospace Physics Laboratory. states.

The magnetosphere is the result of the Earth’s internal magnetic field, generated by the rotation and convection of electrically conductive material within its central core. This magnetic field spreads out into space and acts as a shield against the solar wind, forming the magnetosphere.

Understanding and researching the magnetosphere

Understanding the magnetosphere is a key element in helping scientists predict space weather that could one day impact technology on Earth. Extreme space weather events can disrupt communication networks. GPS Navigation and power grids.

The magnetosphere is a permeable shield. The solar wind periodically connects to the magnetosphere and forces its reconfiguration. This can cause cracks and allow energy to flow into our safe haven. These cracks open and close many times a day, sometimes even an hour. Most of them are small and short-lived. Others are vast and persistent. When the sun’s magnetic field connects with the Earth’s magnetic field, fireworks begin.

“Earth’s magnetosphere absorbs incoming energy from the solar wind and releases it in bursts in the form of magnetic storms and substorms,” Zesta said.

Illustration of four MMS spacecraft in orbit in the Earth’s magnetic field. Credit: NASA

Magnetic Reconnection and MMS Mission

How does this happen? Magnetic field lines converge and rearrange, resulting in magnetic energy and charged particles flying around at breakneck speeds. Scientists have been trying to understand why this crossing of magnetic field lines, called magnetic reconnection, causes such violent explosions and opens cracks in the magnetosphere.

NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission (MMS) launched in March 2015 to make the first observations of the electronic physics of magnetic reconnection. Four of her MMS spacecraft, packed with high-energy particle detectors and magnetic sensors, flew close to the region on the surface of Earth’s magnetosphere where magnetic reconnection occurs. Since then, MMS has conducted similar searches in the magnetotail.

MMS complements the missions of NASA and partner agencies such as THEMIS, Cluster, and Geotail, and will provide important new details for ongoing studies of Earth’s magnetosphere. The data obtained from these surveys not only helps us understand the fundamental physics of the universe, but also helps improve space weather forecasting.

Source: scitechdaily.com