'Witch' Prison Revealed in 15th-Century Scottish Chapel

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1046 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

An iron ring set in the stone pillar of a 15th-century chapel in the Scottish city of Aberdeen may not look like much, but historians say it could be a direct link to a dark chapter in the city’s past — the trial and execution of 23 women and one man accused of witchcraft during Aberdeen's "Great Witch Hunt" in 1597. "I was skeptical, to be honest — the ring is not all that spectacular, but it is actually quite genuine," [Read More]

28 'cocooned' black holes found hiding in plain sight

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  591 words  |  Patria Henriques

More than two dozen missing "cocooned" black holes have been rediscovered, after researchers took a new look at X-ray maps of the sky. All of these singularities had been misclassified as distant galaxies or other types of black holes. All 28 of the objects are supermassive black holes, billions of times the mass of our sun. And all are going through a stage of development where they shroud themselves in a dark bubble of dust and other material. [Read More]

Beer & Bullets to Go: Ancient 'Takeout' Window Discovered

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  5 minutes  |  1062 words  |  Arica Deslauriers

Some 5,200 years ago, in the mountains of western Iran, people may have used takeout windows to get food and weapons, newly presented research suggests. But rather than the greasy hamburgers and fries, it appears the inhabitants of the site ordered up goat, grain and even bullets, among other items. The find was made at Godin Tepe, an archaeological site that was excavated in the 1960s and 1970s by a team led by T. [Read More]

Climate

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  43 words  |  Fernande Dalal

Humanity faces 'grave and mounting threat' of climate change — unless we act, IPCC report reveals

By Mindy Weisberger published 28 February 22

Humans are reeling under climate disruption, and there's worse to come, scientists warn in the latest UN climate assessment.

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Did a Volcano Defeat Napoleon at Waterloo?

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  3 minutes  |  576 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

Napoleon's historic defeat at Waterloo may have been spurred by a volcano that erupted two months earlier, and nearly 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) away. During the decisive battle on June 18, 1815, in what is now Belgium, mucky, wet conditions mired Napoleon's armies and lent a strategic advantage to his foes. But the heavy rainfall that flooded Europe during May and June that year may have resulted from a significant atmospheric disturbance in April, when an Indonesian volcano named Mount Tambora erupted, according to a new study. [Read More]

Extreme, Hydrogen-Crushing Physicists Are Pushing Us into a 'New Era of Superconductivity'

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  6 minutes  |  1188 words  |  Trudie Dory

"We believe this is now a new era of superconductivity," Russell Hemley, a materials scientist at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., told a crowd of researchers March 4 at the American Physical Society's March meeting. Images lit up the screen behind him: a schematic of a device for crushing tiny things between the superhard points of opposing diamonds, graphs of temperature and electrical resistance, a glowing ball with a rough, black " [Read More]

How Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Works (Infographic)

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  1 minutes  |  163 words  |  Trudie Dory

One of the world's most active volcanoes, Kilauea is a shield-type volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii. Kilauea has been erupting continuously since 1983. Kilauea rises to 4,190 feet (1,227 meters) above sea level. The summit caldera contains a lava lake called Halema'uma'u, said in legend to be the home of the volcano goddess Pele. After five years of close study, scientists think the lava lake in Halema'uma'u crater is like no other place on Earth. [Read More]

How to Explain the Total Solar Eclipse to Your Kids

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  4 minutes  |  671 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

With less than a week to go before the "Great American Solar Eclipse" on Aug. 21, interest in the celestial event is reaching a fever pitch. And if you're a parent who cares about science, but you won't be able to view the eclipse along the path of totality with your kids, you may be starting to feel some "eclipse guilt." But don't fret. There's a simple way to explain the phenomenon to your kids, and you can enjoy even simpler ways to experience the partial eclipse, said Amy Mainzer, an astrophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, and a consultant for the space-themed PBS series " [Read More]

Key to Attractive Facebook Profile Pictures: Social Cues and Compliments

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  270 words  |  Mittie Cheatwood

If your Facebook profile picture is accompanied by comments from friends telling you how lovely you are, others are likely to agree with them. That's according to a study by researchers at the University of Missouri who also found that pictures revealing information about who you are and what you do might make you seem more attractive physically, professionally and socially. For the study, the researchers showed different Facebook profile pictures of the same person to 104 college students, with each picture varying in social cues and the quality of comments. [Read More]

Moderna says COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective in children

 Posted on June 5, 2023  |  2 minutes  |  331 words  |  Patria Henriques

Moderna's COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 6 to 12 years, the company announced on Monday (Oct. 25). The findings are part of a clinical trial on the effectiveness and safety of the vaccine in around 5,700 children between the ages of 6 months and 12 years; More than 4,700 children between the ages of 6 and 12 years participated in the study and were given two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart, but at half the dose (50 µg) given to adults (100 µg). [Read More]