9 things you don't know about sand dollars
We’ve all seen sand dollars wash up on the beach, a pretty white shell with a stunning star shape stamped on one side. But what’s up with those five oval holes? And what are they like in their ocean homes,…
The color of your clothing can impact wildlife
(Binghamton University) Your choice of clothing could affect the behavioral habits of wildlife around you, according to a study conducted by a team of researchers, including faculty at Binghamton University, State University of New York.
Conservative States Seek Billions to Brace for Disaster. (Just Don’t Call It Climate Change.) – The New York Times
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is about to distribute billions of dollars to coastal states mainly in the South to help steel them against natural disasters worsened by climate change. But states that qualify must first explain why they need…
Heads up! Lunar occultation of Mars February 18
Thinking of beefing up your stargazing optics? Now would be a good time. Given clear skies, all of the U.S. (except Alaska and Hawaii) can watch the red planet Mars disappear behind the moon – or reappear, or both – one month from today, on the morning of February 18, 2020.
Did phosphorus-rich lakes help kickstart life on Earth?
The building blocks of life as we know it require chemical reactions involving phosphorus. But phosphorus is scarce on Earth. Where did enough of it come from to fuel life’s start? Carbonate-rich lakes, like Mono Lake in California, might hold a clue.
‘Melting rock’ models predict mechanical origins of earthquakes
(Duke University) Engineers at Duke University have devised a model that can predict the early mechanical behaviors and origins of an earthquake in multiple types of rock. The model provides new insights into unobservable phenomena that take place miles beneath the Earth’s surface under incredible pressures and temperatures, and could help researchers better predict earthquakes — or even, at least theoretically, attempt to stop them.
Don’t Blame Climate Change For Raging Wildfires, Blame Bad Policies
California and Australia share a common enemy: overzealous environmental regulation. In both places, the unintended consequences of a radical environmentalist agenda have been massive wildfires. California suffered from two horrible fire seasons in the last three years, one of which…
NRL researching rivers in the sky
(Naval Research Laboratory) Meteorologists at the US Naval Research Laboratory plan to take a harder look in 2020 at a prime, yet difficult to model, component of the global water cycle known as atmospheric rivers.
‘Living fossil’ may upend basic tenet of evolutionary theory
(University of California – San Francisco) A UC San Francisco-led research team has discovered the first conclusive evidence that selection may also occur at the level of the epigenome — a term that refers to an assortment of chemical “annotations” to the genome that determine whether, when and to what extent genes are activated — and has done so for tens of millions of years.
New feathered dinosaur shows dinosaurs grew up differently from birds
A new species of feathered dinosaur has been discovered in China. The one-of-a-kind specimen preserves feathers and bones that provide new information about how dinosaurs grew and how they differed from birds.
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