The story that data reveals is complicated—but somehow very human. Until about 13,600 years ago, any wolf living in what is now Alaska would have lived on the usual wolf diet: rabbits, moose, and a whole range of other land animals. But starting around 13,600 years ago, the nitrogen isotopes locked in ancient wolves’ bones […]
December 4, 2024 | Archaeology, dog domestication, Dogs, indigenous North America, isotope analysis, nitrogen isotopes, Science | No comments
President-elect Donald Trump announced Wednesday he has selected Jared Isaacman, a billionaire businessman and space enthusiast who twice flew to orbit with SpaceX, to become the next NASA administrator. “I am delighted to nominate Jared Isaacman, an accomplished business leader, philanthropist, pilot, and astronaut, as Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA),” Trump […]
December 4, 2024 | artemis, Donald Trump, human spaceflight, jared isaacman, NASA, Science, Space, space policy, spacex | No comments
By some measures, AI systems are now competitive with traditional computing methods for generating weather forecasts. Because their training penalizes errors, however, the forecasts tend to get “blurry”—as you move further ahead in time, the models make fewer specific predictions since those are more likely to be wrong. As a result, you start to see […]
December 4, 2024 | AI, atmospheric science, Computer science, Earth science, meteorology, Science, weather forecasting | No comments
It’s best to wait to plant eelgrass in the early fall, after most of the late summer storms have passed, according to Novak, who spent several days planting seeds in Pleasant Bay and nearby East Harbor this September with a team including a biologist from the National Park Service and a representative from the Mashpee […]
December 4, 2024 | climate change, eel grass, Science, sea grass, syndication | No comments
Once infectious material gets into the water, disinfection systems that aren’t working properly or are inadequate can allow pathogens to gush from every nozzle. Splash pads aren’t unique in having to handle sick children in poopy swim diapers—but they are unique in how they are regulated. That is, in some places, they’re not regulated at […]
December 3, 2024 | CDC, cyrptosporidium, gastrointestinal diseases, Health, Infectious disease, kids, public health, Science, splash pads | No comments
Thanks to the efforts of preservationists like Philippe Villeneuve, chief architect of historic monuments, the cathedral has been rebuilt nearly exactly as it was before the fire. The interior is most transformed since the walls, stained glass, paintings, and sculptures were all cleaned and restored for the first time since the 19th century. All the […]
December 3, 2024 | architecture, National Geographic, notre dame, Notre Dame restoration, photography, Science | No comments
There’s a common popular science demonstration involving “soap boats,” in which liquid soap poured onto the surface of water creates a propulsive flow driven by gradients in surface tension. But it doesn’t last very long since the soapy surfactants rapidly saturate the water surface, eliminating that surface tension. Using ethanol to create similar “cocktail boats” […]
December 3, 2024 | 3D printing, active matter, Cheerios effect, fluid dynamics, Marangoni effect, Physics, Robotics, Science | No comments
“We are shut down due to testing results showing DEAD VIRUS PIECES in some of our samples. Nothing alive,” McAfee said, despite the fact that testing for live virus is still pending. “We are testing and will have more data soon,” he added. Another document McAfee sent was an assessment from Margaret E. (Peg) Coleman, […]
December 3, 2024 | bird flu, H5N1, Health, Infectious disease, Raw Farm, raw milk, Science | No comments
Spreading out the research Ninety-eight miles north of Loya’s farm, along a dead flat and endlessly beige expanse of road that skirts the White Sands Missile Range, more desalination projects burble away at the Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico. The facility, run by the Bureau of Reclamation, offers scientists a […]
December 3, 2024 | desalination, Science, syndication | No comments
Some of the most bizarre lifeforms on Earth lurk in the deeper realms of the ocean. There was so little known about one of these creatures that it took 20 years just to figure out what exactly it was. Things only got weirder from there. The organism’s distinctive, glowing presence was observed by multiple deep-sea […]
December 2, 2024 | Biology, marine biology, phylogenetic, Science, Weird | No comments