Five planets to align for the first time in 18 years
For the first time since 2004, five planets will create a straight line across the night sky in late June. AccuWeather speaks with Brian Lada about this rare celestial event.
New research complicates our current understanding of where humans came from.
Reality might be “in the eye of the observer,” according to new research.
The United States ranks first on the Top500 supercomputer list in the number of calculations that can be performed per second.
You know you're living in the space age when a rocket hits the moon, and the industry as a whole points to the sky and, like an angry teacher holding up a paper airplane, asks "Who launched this?!" Truly, that is what occurred this week as an unidentified rocket stage (!) impacted the lunar surface, forming a new and interesting crater and leaving us all wondering how it's possible to not know what happened. The short version of this story is that skywatchers led by Bill Gray had been tracking an object for months that, based on their calculations, would soon impact the moon. Based on their observations and discussions, these self-appointed (though by no means lacking in expertise) object trackers determined that it was likely a piece of a SpaceX launch vehicle from 2015.
This discovery appeared in our galaxy nearly 5,000 light years away.
The solar-powered microwave oven-sized craft is a key part of the agency's Artemis moon program.
Black carbon in the atmosphere is like dressing Earth in a black shirt on a sunny day.
An area broadly the size of Europe's land surface was added to ocean charts in the past year alone.
STORY: Sea Sense says its program has recorded and protected over 6,800 nests, and more than 528,000 green and hawksbill turtle hatchlings have safely reached the sea to begin their long journey to adulthood.Green turtles are the most common sea turtle species in Tanzania, feeding on extensive seagrass meadows found along the Tanzania coast.According to Sea Sense, sea turtles in Tanzania are under threat as a result of centuries of human exploitation for food, oil, leather and ornaments, as well as mortality associated with incidental capture in the fishing industry, marine and land-based pollution and degradation of foraging habitats. Infrastructure development and coastal erosion poses a significant threat to nesting beaches.
Cows eating hay and soy-based feed. United Soybean Board/Flickr, CC BYThe world’s population is growing, and so is the challenge of feeding everyone. Current projections indicate that by 2050, global food demand could increase by 59%-98% above current levels. In particular, there will be increased demand for high-quality protein foods, such as meat and dairy products. Livestock producers in the U.S. and other exporting countries are looking for ways to increase their output while also being sens
“If I am lucky enough to fly again I can only hope that it is even close to how awesome that mission was.”
The Space Coast will be busy over the next few days.
Increasingly, it's women who are harvesting crops as heat waves worsen. Narinder Nanu/AFP via Getty ImagesSitting in a semi-circle in the yard outside of a village school in Nepal, a group of farmers share their concerns about the future. They discuss how the rain is unreliable – droughts and floods are both becoming more common. The heat is overwhelming before the rains come. In April, May and June, extreme heat makes it harder to work, crops wilt and sometimes die, and livestock get sick. All
Tianwen-1 probe has circled the planet more than 1,300 times – and has looked in detail at a promising region
2056. A toxic cloud of pollution has swallowed the earth, killing untold numbers. The world's nations have dissolved, with all power now in the hands of giant corporations. The rich retreat to sealed biodomes while the poor choke and starve. On the space station Rubikon, Hannah (Julia Franz Richter), Gavin (George Blagden), and Dimitri (Mark Ivanir) weigh the fate of the planet’s survivors. Should these crewmembers risk their own lives on a rescue mission to the surface, or ignore the old world
There is a double mystery on the moon involving a rocket that crashed there. First there's no idea who launched the rocket but the bigger mystery is why did it leave two craters? NASA says astronomers noticed the rocket on a collision course with the moon last year.
Normally June is a gateway to the insufferable heat of late summer.
STORY: How is climate change driving extreme weather in 2022?From scorching downpours to heavy flooding - extreme weather events have caused widespread upheaval,with thousands of people killed and millions more displaced.Scientists say much of this is what's expected from climate change.A team of researchers recently published a study in the journal Environmental Research: Climate. It looks at the role climate change has played in individual weather events over the past two decades.Here are its main findings.(GFX: Heatwaves)It's highly probable that climate change is making heatwaves worse.An April heatwave saw temperatures climb above 122 Fahrenheit in India and Pakistan.Ben Clarke is a doctoral candidate from the University of Oxford."We know that pretty much all heatwaves across the world are being made more intense and more likely by climate change. And we know from looking at the impacts of these, particularly in places like Europe, where we've got good data, this has a serious impact on people's health and it also causes kind of economic disruption because people struggle to focus, people working outdoors can't work as effectively during heat. So we have very high confidence there."(GFX: Drought)Scientists have a harder time figuring out how climate change affects drought.Some areas suffer from ongoing dryness. For example, the study says warmer temperatures in the U.S. West are melting the snowpack faster and driving evaporation.Meanwhile East African droughts have yet to be linked to climate change.But scientists say the decline in the spring rainy season is tied to warmer waters in the Indian Ocean.(GFX: Wildfires)Heatwaves and drought conditions are also worsening wildfires.The April fires in the U.S. state of New Mexico burned 341,000 acres of land.(GFX: Rainfall and flooding)Episodes of extreme flooding and heavy rainfall are becoming more common and more intense.That’s because warmer air holds more moisture - storm clouds are then “heavier” when they eventually break.But the impact varies by region, with some areas not getting enough rain at all."We know generally things like rainfall are getting more extreme. That's kind of generally true, but it's a little more nuanced. But we have seen across the world, a lot of serious and very damaging floods become more likely due to climate change."(GFX: Tropical cyclones)On a global scale, the frequency of storms hasn’t increased.Cyclones are now more common in the central Pacific and North Atlantic but less so in western North Pacific and southern Indian Ocean, the study says.There is also evidence that tropical storms are becoming more intense.
Charcoal fragments record a fire-ravaged forest of giant fungi some 430 million years ago.
Three young Midlands students took it upon themselves to help 2-year-old pediatric patient in Columbia gain some mobility to play outside.