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Categories: Offbeat: Space, Paleontology: Climate
Published New study removes human bias from debate over dinosaurs' demise
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Researchers tried a new approach to resolve the scientific debate over whether it was a giant asteroid or volcanoes that wiped out the dinosaurs -- they removed scientists from the debate and let the computers decide. The researchers created a model powered by 130 interconnected processors that, without human input, reverse-engineered the Cretaceous-Paleogene mass extinction until they reached a scenario that matched the fossil record. The model determined that while a meteorite contributed to the cataclysm, the outpouring of climate-altering gases from the nearly 1-million-year eruptions of volcanoes in western India's Deccan Traps would have been sufficient to trigger the extinction and clear the way for the ascendance of mammals.
Published Down goes antimatter! Gravity's effect on matter's elusive twin is revealed
(via sciencedaily.com) For the first time, in a unique laboratory experiment at CERN, researchers have observed individual atoms of antihydrogen fall under the effects of gravity. In confirming antimatter and regular matter are gravitationally attracted, the finding rules out gravitational repulsion as the reason why antimatter is largely missing from the observable universe.
Published Antarctica's glacial border migrates for miles with the tide
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New measurements of how boundary between onshore glacier and floating ice shelf glides back-and- forth could help predict melting.
Published New insights into the atmosphere and star of an exoplanet
(via sciencedaily.com) A new study of the intriguing TRAPPIST-1 exoplanetary system has demonstrated the complex interaction between the activity of the system's star and its planetary features.
Published New research reveals extreme heat likely to wipe out humans and mammals in the distant future
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A new study shows unprecedented heat is likely to lead to the next mass extinction, akin to when the dinosaurs died out, eliminating nearly all mammals in some 250 million years time.
Published Hidden supermassive black holes reveal their secrets through radio signals
(via sciencedaily.com) Astronomers have found a striking link between the amount of dust surrounding a supermassive black hole and the strength of the radio emission produced in extremely bright galaxies.
Published New Mars gravity analysis improves understanding of possible ancient ocean
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The first use of a novel method of analyzing Mars' gravitational force supports the idea that the planet once had an extensive northern ocean. In doing so, the method defines the scope of what scientists refer to as the northern Martian paleo-ocean in more detail.
Published Tag team of the James Webb Space Telescope and ALMA captures the core of the most distant galaxy protocluster
(via sciencedaily.com) An international research team has used the James Webb Space Telescope and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array to observe the most distant galaxy protocluster to date, 13.14 billion light-years away. The team has successfully captured the 'core region' of the galaxy protocluster, which corresponds to a metropolitan area with a particularly high number density of galaxies. The team has revealed that many galaxies are concentrated in a small area and that the growth of galaxies is accelerated. Furthermore, the team used simulations to predict the future of the metropolitan area and found that the region will merge into one larger galaxy within tens of millions of years. These results are expected to provide important clues regarding the birth and growth of galaxies.
Published New recipes for origin of life may point way to distant, inhabited planets
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Life on a faraway planet -- if it's out there -- might not look anything like life on Earth. But there are only so many chemical ingredients in the universe's pantry, and only so many ways to mix them. Scientists have now exploited those limitations to write a cookbook of hundreds of chemical recipes with the potential to give rise to life. Their ingredient list could focus the search for life elsewhere in the universe by pointing out the most likely conditions -- planetary versions of mixing techniques, oven temperatures and baking times -- for the recipes to come together.
Published Groundbreaking research shows that the limits of nuclear stability change in stellar environments where temperatures reach billions of degrees Celsius
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research is challenging the scientific status quo on the limits of the nuclear chart in hot stellar environments where temperatures reach billions of degrees Celsius.
Published Snaps supersonic outflow of young star
(via sciencedaily.com) Herbig-Haro (HH) objects are luminous regions surrounding newborn stars, formed when stellar winds or jets of gas spewing from these newborn stars form shock waves colliding with nearby gas and dust at high speeds. This image of HH 211 from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope reveals an outflow from a Class 0 protostar, an infantile analog of our Sun when it was no more than a few tens of thousands of years old and with a mass only 8% of the present-day Sun (it will eventually grow into a star like the Sun).
Published Electrons from Earth may be forming water on the Moon
(via sciencedaily.com) Planetary scientists have discovered that high energy electrons in Earth's plasma sheet are contributing to weathering processes on the Moon's surface and, importantly, the electrons may have aided the formation of water on the lunar surface.
Published New research reveals why and when the Sahara Desert was green
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source A pioneering study has shed new light on North African humid periods that have occurred over the past 800,000 years and explains why the Sahara Desert was periodically green.
Published Discovery of two potential Polar Ring galaxies suggests these stunning rare clusters might be more common than previously believed
(via sciencedaily.com) These new detections suggest polar ring galaxies might be more common than previously believed.
Published Water world? Methane, carbon dioxide in atmosphere of massive exoplanet
(via sciencedaily.com) A new investigation with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope into K2-18 b, an exoplanet 8.6 times as massive as Earth, has revealed the presence of carbon-bearing molecules including methane and carbon dioxide. Webb's discovery adds to recent studies suggesting that K2-18 b could be a Hycean exoplanet, one which has the potential to possess a hydrogen-rich atmosphere and a water ocean-covered surface.
Published Study hints at the existence of the closest black holes to Earth in the Hyades star cluster
(via sciencedaily.com) A new article hints at the existence of several black holes in the Hyades cluster -- the closest open cluster to our solar system -- which would make them the closest black holes to Earth ever detected.
Published Ravenous black hole consumes three Earths'-worth of star every time it passes
(via sciencedaily.com) Massive burst of X-rays detected by astronomers indicates material three times the mass of Earth burning up in a black hole. They observed a star like our own Sun being eaten away every time it orbits close. First time a Sun-like star being repeatedly disrupted by a low mass black hole has been seen, opening the possibility of a range of star and black hole combinations to be discovered.
Published Bursting air bubbles may play a key role in how glacier ice melts
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source New research has uncovered a possible clue as to why glaciers that terminate at the sea are retreating at unprecedented rates: the bursting of tiny, pressurized bubbles in underwater ice.
Published Stability inspection for West Antarctica shows: marine ice sheet is not destabilized yet, but possibly on a path to tipping
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source Antarctica's vast ice masses seem far away, yet they store enough water to raise global sea levels by several meters. A team of experts has now provided the first systematic stability inspection of the ice sheet's current state. Their diagnosis: While they found no indication of irreversible, self-reinforcing retreat of the ice sheet in West Antarctica yet, global warming to date could already be enough to trigger the slow but certain loss of ice over the next hundreds to thousands of years.
Published Vast bubble of galaxies discovered, given Hawaiian name
(via sciencedaily.com) Original source The immense bubble is 820 million light years from Earth and believed to be a fossil-like remnant of the birth of the universe.