Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 1 minutes
| 48 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
'Baby Jupiter' discovered in the process of forming around a star 500 light-years away
By Peter Tuthill, Barnaby Norris published 11 April 22
In new research, scientists have spotted a hot, Jupiter-like gas giant in the process of forming around a star about 500 light-years from Earth.
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Is Earth Shaking More?
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 890 words
| Mittie Cheatwood
As the numbers of buried or dead continue to climb from today's 6.9-magnitude earthquake in China, an event so close on the heels of the devastating Chile and Haiti earthquakes, you might wonder if Earth is shaking more lately. Perhaps, scientists say, but not unusually so.
Seismic activity may be higher in recent years than the long-term average, but it's still not out of the normal range, the experts contend.
[Read More]Navy Plans Flying Submarine
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 2 minutes
| 414 words
| Arica Deslauriers
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works, famed for the U-2 and Blackbird spy planes that flew higher than anything else in the world in their day, is trying for a different altitude record: an airplane that starts and ends its mission 150 feet underwater.
The Cormorant, a stealthy, jet-powered, autonomous aircraft that could be outfitted with either short-range weapons or surveillance equipment, is designed to launch out of the Trident missile tubes in some of the U.
[Read More]Partial Skull Removal Can Save Lives After Injury
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 783 words
| Fernande Dalal
A controversial procedure that involves removing a portion of a patient's skull can save lives when people have severe brain injuries, a new study finds.
The surgery, called a decompressive craniectomy, nearly halved a patient's risk of dying following a severe traumatic brain injury compared with patients who received other medical treatment for their injuries but did not have the operation, the study said.
Doctors have previously questioned whether to perform the surgery, because it was unclear if the operation saved lives, and if so, what quality of life the person would have afterward, said Dr.
[Read More]Rare plutonium from space found in deep-sea crust
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 5 minutes
| 995 words
| Trudie Dory
A rare version of the radioactive element plutonium embedded in Earth's crust below the deep sea is providing new clues as to how heavy metals form in the stars.
The new research finds that the isotope, called plutonium-244, may arrive on Earth in tandem with iron-60, a lighter metal known to form in supernovas, explosions that occur during the death throes of many types of stars. This finding suggests that supernovas may create both heavy metals — although it's possible that other events, such as the mergers of neutron stars, are responsible for at least some of the plutonium-244.
[Read More]Scientists Just Discovered What May Be Canada's Largest Cave. And It Looks Like the Sarlacc's Pit.
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 467 words
| Arica Deslauriers
A helicopter team counting caribou in British Columbia, Canada, recently made an unexpected discovery during an aerial survey: Crewmembers spied an opening to a massive cave that had never been seen before and which might be the largest cave in the country.
Found in April in an alpine valley in Wells Gray Provincial Park, the cave's mouth gapes 328 feet (100 meters) across — if the Statue of Liberty were tipped over on its side, it would just about span the opening.
[Read More]Sexy Sea Worms Light Up Bermuda in One-of-a-Kind Mating Ritual
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 717 words
| Patria Henriques
Oct. 12, 1492, is remembered in North America as the fateful day an Italian explorer named Christopher Columbus made landfall in the so-called New World. By some accounts, it should also be remembered as the day he and his crew almost crashed a glowing marine worm orgy.
It happened in the wee hours between Oct. 11 and 12. Columbus stood on the deck of his ship, the Santa Maria, peering into the Caribbean darkness, when he saw a faint, flickering glow far out on the inky ocean.
[Read More]Software Creates Montage of You Over Time
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 573 words
| Patria Henriques
Many of us have dozens — if not hundreds — of photos of ourselves, our friends and family members saved on our hard drives. Now those digital portraits can be used to create a time-lapse animation of a person's face over time in just seconds.
The new technology can even show how a person's face has aged over the years as one photo morphs seamlessly into the next in chronological order, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
[Read More]Spray-On Touch Screens? How to Turn Any Flat Surface into a Touchpad
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 3 minutes
| 550 words
| Trudie Dory
The technique, dubbed Electrick by its inventors from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, relies on electrodes attached to an object made of or coated with any slightly conductive material. While not as precise as smartphone touch-screen technology, the resulting touchpads are still accurate enough to allow basic control functions, such as using a slider or pushing a button, the researchers said.
"The technology is very similar to how touch screens work,"
[Read More]Teens With Bulging Bellies at Increased Risk for Hypertension
Posted on September 8, 2022
| 4 minutes
| 659 words
| Trudie Dory
Armed with nothing more complicated than a tape measure and a scale, researchers are perfecting the art of estimating levels of dangerous body fat in teenagers.
The technique simply combines measurements of body-mass index (BMI) and the waist-to-height ratio. The two measurements, which otherwise independently are imperfect probes of measuring body fat, surprisingly predict the amount of fat floating in the blood and accumulated on bodily organs, which ultimately can lead to diabetes, heart disease and cancers.
[Read More]