Science News

Human activities including hunting and hiking are driving mammals around the world to be more active at night, when they’re less likely to run into people, according to a new study. The consequences of this shift are still unclear, but scientists suspect it could threaten the survival of several animal populations. Coyotes are among the more than 60 mammal species that have shifted to a more nocturnal schedule when living around people. http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-05430-4

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-renovations-big-nuclear-astrophysics-lab.html In nature, the nuclear reactions that form stars are often accompanied by astronomically high amounts of energy, sometimes over billions of years. This presents a challenge for nuclear astrophysicists trying to study these reactions in a controlled, low-energy laboratory setting. The chances of re-creating such a spark without bombarding targets with high-intensity beams are unfathomably low. However, after recent renovations to its accelerator, one laboratory reported record-breaking performance. Following six years of upgrades to the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) at t…

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-quiet-sunday-night-supermassive-black.html Earlier this year, on a quiet Sunday night, my colleague Jack and I found the fastest-growing supermassive black hole in the known universe. We were fortunate to be part of the team that made one of the greatest discoveries in astronomy this year. This supermassive black hole, or quasar, is 20 billion times the mass of our Sun and is 12.5 billion light years away from Earth. It expands 1 per cent every million years and it devours a mass equivalent to our Sun every two days. Officially, it is called SMSS J215728.21-360215.1, but we call it the hungry monster. The 'we' that made the dis…

Hi, I'm not a "hard" scientist (history of art), but by accident I stumbled across a recent scientific book (published by Wiley, written by University professor) which contains what I think are many plagiarized sections (some identical, some with very minor changes). I contacted Wiley about this more than a month ago, but haven't gotten a reply nor have they taken any action about the book. I have no idea where I could best report this situation, I have no personal stake in this (the copied texts are not by me or anyone I know), but don't like knowing about such a situation and not doing anything about it. Do I post my evidence here (in whichever subforum you prefer)…

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-einstein-date-lorentz-violation-high-energy.html New study again proves Einstein right: Most thorough test to date finds no Lorentz violation in high-energy neutrinos July 16, 2018 by Jennifer Chu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The universe should be a predictably symmetrical place, according to a cornerstone of Einstein's theory of special relativity, known as Lorentz symmetry. This principle states that any scientist should observe the same laws of physics, in any direction, and regardless of one's frame of reference, as long as that object is moving at a constant speed. For instance, as a consequence of Lorentz …

https://phys.org/news/2018-08-kepler-supernova-explosion-survivors-left.html After the Kepler supernova explosion, no survivors were left behind: A new study argues that the explosion that Johannes Kepler observed in 1604 was caused by a merger of two stellar residues. The Kepler supernova, of which only the supernova remnant remains, took place in the constellation of Ophiuchus, in the plane of the Milky Way, 16,300 light years from the sun. An international team led by the researcher Pilar Ruiz Lapuente (UB-IECC y CSIC), in which IAC researcher Jonay González Hernández participated, has tried to find the possible surviving star of the binary system in whi…

Hurricanes are catastrophically destructive. Beyond their toll on human life and livelihoods, hurricanes have tremendous and often long-lasting effects on ecological systems. Despite many examples of mass mortality events following hurricane, hurricane-induced natural selection has not previously been demonstrated. Immediately after we finished a survey of Anolis scriptus—a common, small-bodied lizard found throughout the Turks and Caicos archipelago—our study populations were battered by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. Shortly thereafter, we revisited the populations to determine whether morphological traits related to clinging capacity had shifted in the intervening si…

I don't much understand moon phases, but most documented moon phases show a full moon at the height of illumination. Timedate.com (with the exception of China) showed the full moon on the 27th when the moon was the furthest from the earth. (A Micro Moon) However, timedate.com also showed that the height of illumination was on the 28th for the same parts of the world. Did they say the full moon was on the 27th just so they could call it a micro moon? To Recap: For most countries, the moon was furthest away on the 27th, but he height of illumination was on the 28th Parts of China had a true micro moon on the 28th when it was both furthest from the earth a…

Not sure if this article has been shared yet. https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jul/25/huge-underground-lake-discovered-on-mars-say-astronomers

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-black-holes-ever-growing-balls.html Black holes really just ever-growing balls of string, researchers say July 26, 2018 by Misti Crane, The Ohio State University Black holes aren't surrounded by a burning ring of fire after all, suggests new research. Some physicists have believed in a "firewall" around the perimeter of a black hole that would incinerate anything sucked into its powerful gravitational pull. But a team from The Ohio State University has calculated an explanation of what would happen if an electron fell into a typical black hole, with a mass as big as the sun. "The probability of the electron …

On an island off Australia’s north-central coast, researchers are conducting an unprecedented experiment: mixing endangered animals that have evolved genetic defences against their biggest foe with those that haven’t, in the hope that their offspring will take after the wiser parent. The subject of the experiment is one of Australia’s most imperilled marsupials, the northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus). This squirrel-sized carnivore is struggling to survive a decades-long onslaught of poisonous and invasive cane toads, which quolls mistake as prey, with devastating results. In the 80 years since agriculture officials introduced the cane toad (Rhinella mari…

I wish to find out if a tree so heavily pruned is still capable of survival. Please comment. (Picture attached)

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-century-old-riddle-resolveda-blazar-source.html More than century-old riddle resolved—a blazar is a source of high-energy neutrinos An international team of scientists has found the first evidence of a source of high-energy cosmic neutrinos, ghostly subatomic particles that can travel unhindered for billions of light years from the most extreme environments in the universe to Earth. The observations, made by the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station and confirmed by telescopes around the globe and in Earth's orbit, help resolve a more than a century-old riddle about what sends subatomic particles…

https://phys.org/news/2018-07-einstein-againweak-strong-gravity-fall.html Einstein's understanding of gravity, as outlined in his general theory of relativity, predicts that all objects fall at the same rate, regardless of their mass or composition. This theory has passed test after test here on Earth, but does it still hold true for some of the most massive and dense objects in the known universe, an aspect of nature known as the Strong Equivalence Principle? An international team of astronomers has given this lingering question its most stringent test ever. Their findings, published in the journal Nature, show that Einstein's insights into gravity still hold sway, …

In December 2016 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/71/90, declaring 30 June "International Asteroid Day" in order to "observe each year at the international level the anniversary of the Tunguska impact over Siberia, Russian Federation, on 30 June 1908, and to raise public awareness about the asteroid impact hazard." Since then it really has become an International Asteroid Awareness Week, with events planned in numerous countries beginning June 25th and extending until June 30th.

Thatcham vehicle test track demonstration that current autopilot driverless car can involve itself in a crash situation. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/business-44460980/this-car-is-on-autopilot-what-happens-next

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-einstein-galaxy.html Einstein proved right in another galaxy June 21, 2018, University of Portsmouth: An international team of astronomers have made the most precise test of gravity outside our own solar system. By combining data taken with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, their results show that gravity in this galaxy behaves as predicted by Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, confirming the theory's validity on galactic scales. In 1915 Albert Einstein proposed his general theory of relativity (GR) to explain how gravity works. Since then GR has p…

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-black-hole-clouds-puzzling-features.html One black hole or two? Dust clouds can explain puzzling features of active galactic nuclei: Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), believe clouds of dust, rather than twin black holes, can explain the features found in active galactic nuclei (AGNs). The team publish their results today (14 June) in a paper in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Many large galaxies have an AGN, a small bright central region powered by matter spiralling into a supermassive black hole. When these black holes are vigorously swallowing matter, they are surrounded by …

Not sure if this is in the right section or not, so perhaps a mod can move it if required? Some people that frequent science forums, [obviously the best type] will inevitably say they have a new theory about some aspect of the universe/life etc.They put there ideas in various forcefull ways full of confidence and much bravado, seemingly ignorant of the fact that professional scientists are forever testing and retesting incumbent theories: Afterall that's there job....sometimes they are in error, sometimes they may make mistakes [BICEP2] but surely that is part of the human makeup and should be expected from time to time. Anyway I believe that all those that believe t…

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-astronomers-distant-eruption-black-hole.html Astronomers see distant eruption as black hole destroys star For the first time, astronomers have directly imaged the formation and expansion of a fast-moving jet of material ejected when the powerful gravity of a supermassive black hole ripped apart a star that wandered too close to the cosmic monster. The scientists tracked the event with radio and infrared telescopes, including the National Science Foundation's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), in a pair of colliding galaxies called Arp 299, nearly 150 million light-years from Earth. At the core of one of the galaxies, a black hole…

Really interesting discovery. Article is easy to follow so please have a look. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1806.02751.pdf

Hello everyone, new to the forum here.. I recently came across a video on YouTube that has got me stumped. It showed an individual at the entrance of some cave where they had a lit torch.. the individual points the torch towards the entrance of the cave and it would die out and have to be re-lit. He did this a few times, and every time, the torch would die out.....Another weird example from the same video was that he then held a handgun that looked like a revolver, pulled the trigger and he could not get the gun to fire a shot even though the trigger was pulled and the gun clicked... then he backs up, turns facing in a direction away from the cave, pulls the trigger and…

https://tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/?main=https%3A//tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/welcome/ The LHC Has Detected The Higgs Boson Again, This Time With a Massive Twist Whoa. MIKE MCRAE 6 JUN 2018 Physicists working at the Large Hadron Collider have made a major new detection of the famous Higgs boson, this time catching details on a rare interaction with one of the heaviest fundamental particles known to physics - the top quark. The brief mingling of these incredibly rare encounters has provided physicists with important information on the nature of mass, and whether there is more to physics than the existing model predicts. Results produced by …

https://phys.org/news/2018-06-magnetic-fields-key-star-formation.html Magnetic fields could hold the key to star formation: Astronomers have discovered new magnetic fields in space, which could shed light on how stars are formed and uncover the mysteries behind one of the most famous celestial images. For the first time, extremely subtle magnetic fields in the Pillars of Creation – a structure made famous thanks to an iconic image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope – have been discovered and mapped. The structure consists of cosmic dust and cold, dense gas that have nurseries of stars forming at their tips. This innovative research has shown that the …