The great silence: Just 4 in 10,000 galaxies may host intelligent aliens
Scientists argue that plate tectonics, which cause geological activity like mountains and earthquakes, are essential for complex life to evolve. Plate tectonics began around 1-1.5 billion years ago on Earth. Plate tectonics put environmental stresses on life and may have prompted the Cambrian explosion of diversity 540 million years ago. They accelerate biological evolution by […]
Earth has 7 strange quasi-moons — and you could name one of them
Earth has 7 quasi-moons, which are asteroids that orbit the Earth but are also influenced by the gravity of other planets. They are not true moons. One of Earth’s quasi-moons is 2004 GU9. It has an unstable orbit and will leave Earth’s orbit after 2600. The podcast Radiolab is hosting a contest to name 2004 […]
Chinese astronauts install space-junk shielding on Tiangong space station
Two Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou 18 mission performed a spacewalk on July 3rd to continue installing debris shields outside the Tiangong space station. The astronauts, Ye Guangfu and Li Cong, spent around 6.5 hours working outside Tiangong. Their main task was mounting space debris shielding to protect equipment and cables on the station. Fellow […]
New images reveal an asteroid that just whizzed by Earth has an unexpected companion
NASA scientists recently tracked two asteroids that passed close to Earth in late June using radar from the Deep Space Network. One asteroid, called 2011 UL21, was discovered to have a small moonlet orbiting it. Binaries like this are thought to form after two asteroids collide. The other asteroid, 2024 MK, was only discovered 13 […]
Elon Musk’s liquid-cooled ‘Gigafactory’ AI data centers get a plug from Supermicro CEO — Tesla and xAI’s new supercomputers will have 350,000 Nvidia GPUs, both will be online within months
Elon Musk is building two large AI supercomputer clusters – one at Tesla’s Gigafactory and another for his company xAI. The Gigafactory cluster will contain 50,000 Nvidia GPUs and is nearing completion. It is expected to draw up to 500MW of power. xAI’s supercomputer will contain over 300,000 Nvidia GPUs and is also nearly completed. […]
Mars orbiter captures Red Planet scar that’s longer than the Grand Canyon
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter captured new images of a long, snaking scar on Mars called Aganippe Fossa. At 600 km long, Aganippe Fossa is longer than the Grand Canyon on Earth. It is a type of geological feature known as a graben, formed by cracks in Mars’ crust caused by magma rising […]
BTS’ Jin to Serve as South Korea’s Torchbearer at 2024 Paris Olympics
BTS member Jin will participate in the 2024 Paris Olympic Torch Relay as the torchbearer representing South Korea. The torch relay takes place before each Olympics, with the Olympic flame traveling from Olympia, Greece to the host city through various countries. It aims to spread a message of “harmony” and “peace”. As the South Korean […]
Scientists say they’ve confirmed a slowdown in Earth’s inner core rotation. Now what?
Scientists have long debated whether Earth’s inner core rotates and how fast it spins. Recent evidence confirms the inner core is rotating more slowly over time. Using seismic waves from earthquakes, researchers found the inner core’s rotation follows a 70-year cycle where it periodically spins faster and slower relative to the mantle. Their latest study […]
Tech company unveils tiny spheres that outperform solar panels using both sun and artificial light — and the company says they could hit 60 times the current capacity
A tech company called WAVJA has developed small spherical devices called Photon Energy Systems that can harness sunlight and artificial light to generate electricity. The spheres are much smaller than solar panels (30x smaller) but can produce much more power (7.5x higher output and over 200x more efficient). They work without needing an external battery […]
They thought this rare, tiny flower was extinct since WWI. Now it’s a symbol of hope
A botanist in Vermont found a rare tiny flower called false mermaid-weed that was thought to have gone extinct in the state since World War 1. The botanist, Grace Glynn, had been searching for this plant which is very small and inconspicuous, and only blooms for a short period in April. False mermaid-weed needs open […]