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| ©Unknown |
Science & Technology
Here is an interesting idea which could allow sustainable agriculture to be deployed even in the most arid places on Earth. The project is called Fog Tower and it consists of a helical structure that absorbs and sewers water from surrounding areas. The designers of the Fog Tower are Alberto Fernandez and Susana Ortega and they are planning to install the concept in some areas in Chile.
Global temperature change can be attributed to slight variations in the sun's energy output, not man-made carbon dioxide emissions. That's according to astrophysicist Dr. Willie Soon, who was in Salt Lake City today to present his research to a crowd at The Sutherland Institute.
Cairo - Archaeologists have revealed plans to uncover the 2000 year-old tomb of ancient Egypt's most famous lovers, Cleopatra and the Roman general Mark Antony later this year.
Human beings may have had a brush with extinction 70,000 years ago, an extensive genetic study suggests. The human population at that time was reduced to small isolated groups in Africa, apparently because of drought, according to an analysis released Thursday.
The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.
The report notes that a separate study by researchers at Stanford University estimated the number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the early Stone Age.
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| ©CT24 |
| The newly discovered sandstone caves |
The region of Broumov with its picturesque rock formations has long attracted tourists and climbers. Now, scientists have revealed that the area has far more to offer - a vast network of sandstone caves hidden below ground. Spanning more than 27 kilometres, the caves are the most extensive underground sandstone labyrinth in Europe. Research work in the area started two years ago and cave explorers have only now finished mapping the whole space. Earlier today I spoke to Petr Kuna from the nature reserve of Broumov and asked him to tell me something about the caves:
At the cores of many galaxies, supermassive black holes expel powerful jets of particles at nearly the speed of light. Just how they perform this feat has long been one of the mysteries of astrophysics. The leading theory says the particles are accelerated by tightly-twisted magnetic fields close to the black hole, but confirming that idea required an elusive close-up view of the jet's inner throat. Now, using the unrivaled resolution of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory's Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), astronomers have watched material winding a corkscrew outward path and behaving exactly as predicted by the theory.
"We have gotten the clearest look yet at the innermost portion of the jet, where the particles actually are accelerated, and everything we see supports the idea that twisted, coiled magnetic fields are propelling the material outward," said Alan Marscher, of Boston University, leader of an international research team. "This is a major advance in our understanding of a remarkable process that occurs throughout the Universe," he added.
"We have gotten the clearest look yet at the innermost portion of the jet, where the particles actually are accelerated, and everything we see supports the idea that twisted, coiled magnetic fields are propelling the material outward," said Alan Marscher, of Boston University, leader of an international research team. "This is a major advance in our understanding of a remarkable process that occurs throughout the Universe," he added.
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| ©Marscher et al., Wolfgang Steffen, Cosmovision, NRAO/AUI/NSF |
| Artist's conception of region near supermassive black hole where twisted magnetic fields propel and shape jet of particles. |
Circles of elaborately carved stones from about 9,500BC predate even agriculture
As a child, Klaus Schmidt used to grub around in caves in his native Germany in the hope of finding prehistoric paintings. Thirty years later, a member of the German Archaeological Institute, he found something infinitely more important: a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable on the planet.
As a child, Klaus Schmidt used to grub around in caves in his native Germany in the hope of finding prehistoric paintings. Thirty years later, a member of the German Archaeological Institute, he found something infinitely more important: a temple complex almost twice as old as anything comparable on the planet.
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| ©Gevork Nazaryan |
| A part of the remaints of the T shaped pillars. |
Russia has launched an investigation into why a manned space capsule returned to earth hundreds of kilometers (miles) off course, a space industry official said on Wednesday.
Russian space officials denied a newspaper report the three crew returning from the International Space Station came close to death during Saturday's re-entry.
The Soyuz-TMA capsule with South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon, U.S. commander Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko made a much steeper than usual "ballistic" landing.
Russian space officials denied a newspaper report the three crew returning from the International Space Station came close to death during Saturday's re-entry.
The Soyuz-TMA capsule with South Korea's first astronaut Yi So-yeon, U.S. commander Peggy Whitson and Russian flight engineer Yuri Malenchenko made a much steeper than usual "ballistic" landing.
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| ©REUTERS/Shamil Zhumatov |
| A ground crew member checks radiation levels near the Soyuz capsule after it landed in northern Kazakhstan April 19, 2008. |
A simple question, with an easy answer... well if you think it is as simple as 1 then you haven't thought hard enough (seriously the answer is probably 1 but... ). Nothing new here but interesting nonetheless.
The near-Earth asteroid 3753 Cruithne is now known to be a companion, and an unusual one, of the Earth. This asteroid shares the Earth's orbit, its motion "choreographed" in such a way as to remain stable and avoid colliding with our planet. It orbits around the Sun in 1:1 orbital resonance with that of the Earth. Due to its unusual orbit relative to that of the Earth, it is a periodic inclusion planetoid. From the Earth's point of view Cruithne actually follows a kidney bean-shaped horseshoe orbit ahead of the Earth, taking slightly less than one year to complete a circuit (to see some diagrams of this take a look here. Other examples of natural bodies known to be in horseshoe orbits include Janus and Epimetheus, natural satellites of Saturn. So maybe there is a case there?
The near-Earth asteroid 3753 Cruithne is now known to be a companion, and an unusual one, of the Earth. This asteroid shares the Earth's orbit, its motion "choreographed" in such a way as to remain stable and avoid colliding with our planet. It orbits around the Sun in 1:1 orbital resonance with that of the Earth. Due to its unusual orbit relative to that of the Earth, it is a periodic inclusion planetoid. From the Earth's point of view Cruithne actually follows a kidney bean-shaped horseshoe orbit ahead of the Earth, taking slightly less than one year to complete a circuit (to see some diagrams of this take a look here. Other examples of natural bodies known to be in horseshoe orbits include Janus and Epimetheus, natural satellites of Saturn. So maybe there is a case there?
Many of you will have seen the obituaries (MIT, NYT) for Ed Lorenz, who died a short time ago. Lorenz is most famous scientifically for discovering the exquisite sensitivity to initial conditions (i.e. chaos) in a simple model of fluid convection, which serves as an archetype for the weather prediction problem. He is most famous outside science for the 'The Butterfly Effect' described in his 1972 paper "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?". Lorenz's contributions to both atmospheric science and the mathematics of dynamical systems were wide ranging and seminal. He also directly touched the lives of many of us here at RealClimate, and both his wisdom, and quiet personal charm will be sorely missed.
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| ©Unknown |
| Lorenz Hiking |
