Chaos theory has a bad name, conjuring up images of unpredictable weather, economic crashes and science gone wrong. But there is a fascinating and hidden side to Chaos, one that scientists are only now beginning to understand.
Earlier this year, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British Geological Survey (BGS) were forced to update the World Magnetic Model a year ahead of schedule due to the speed with which the magnetic north pole is shifting out of the Canadian Arctic and toward Russia’s Siberia.
Written by John D. Scott, Kerry L. Clark, Nikki M. Coble & Taylor R. Ballantyne
Lyme disease and human babesiosis are the most common tick-borne zoonoses in the Temperate Zone of North America. The number of infected patients has continued to rise globally, and these zoonoses pose a major healthcare threat. A new study provides fresh insights to better inform health care providers.
Written by Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology
Credit: @tsarcyanide, MIPT
Scientists from Moscow Institute for Physics and Technology, Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI), and Pulkovo Observatory discovered a unique neutron star, the magnetic field of which is apparent only when the star is seen under a certain angle relative to the observer.
Lola, a young girl who lived in Denmark 5,700 years ago, had blue eyes, dark skin and dark hair. Her last meal included hazelnuts and mallard duck but no milk — she couldn’t stomach dairy.
And the reason we know any of this is because she chewed on birch pitch, a material that functioned a bit like an ancient chewing gum.
This means that genetic research will be a complete free for all. It probably will have to be. I know that this does not make anyone comfortable. It does mean that ethical niceties will be mostly ignored. Those may come as the technology matures and it is all better understood.
Think in terms of Frankenstein unleashed. This is no longer an impossibility.
Artist’s representation of how Venus may have appeared with water — NASA
Despite Mercury being the closest to the Sun, Venus is the hottest planet in our Solar System due to the transformation that changed its atmosphere radically somewhere in the past. The average surface temperature of 462° C (864° F) of Venus can melt Lead.
Lithium batteries have high energy storage capacity, but sometimes they have unexpected failures and can even cause a fire.
A team of scientists at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) demonstrated for the first time how dendrites and whiskers — destructive, crystalline structures formed by lithium ions come into existence inside a battery.
The Big Oil-Big Biofuel wars rage on. From my perch, ethanol, biodiesel and “advanced biofuels” make about zero energy, economic or environmental sense.
They make little political sense either until you recognize that politics is largely driven by crony-capitalism, campaign contributions, and vote hustling.
COP 25 was an utter failure for the United Nations.
Despite extending the conference into double-overtime, making it the longest COP ever, the UN was forced to adjourn without advancing the “rule book” for the Paris Climate Accord or agreeing on a framework for an international carbon market.
image: Peggy Heuer-Schwarzer, “Mental Leap: From Thought to Action”
Abstract:Yes, the size of a thought can be measured. But we have to dig quite deep before we are able to see how it can be done. At first we need to understand how the universe stores information and from there we derive a universal measure for the thing we call information.
Most of you reading this enjoy science and I’m sure you’ll appreciate the link following. For a most erudite and eclectic source of science I suggest you go to You Tube – Professor Jim Al-Kahlili and enjoy his many fascinating presentations.
As the lines between the use of technology and doing anything manually become increasingly blurred, the general public and policy makers don’t have time to consider the potential implications of too much technology, or more alarmingly, the merging of humans with AI.
Within the last few years, over 50 papers have been added to our compilation of scientific studies that find the climate’s sensitivity to doubled CO2 (280 ppm to 560 ppm) ranges from <0 to 1°C.
When no quantification is provided, words like “negligible” are used to describe CO2’s effect on the climate.
European clinical guidelines on how to treat a major form of heart disease are under review following a BBC Newsnight investigation.
Europe’s professional body for heart surgeons has withdrawn support for the guidelines, saying it was “a matter of serious concern” that some patients may have had the wrong advice.
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) has launched efforts to create a vaccine that would protect people from most flu strains, all at once, with a single shot. This shot would be a DNA-based vaccine that will literally change your body’s DNA.