Scientists claim that all high-energy cosmic neutrinos are born by quasars

Scientists of the P. N. Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS), the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT) and the Institute for Nuclear Research of RAS (INR RAS) have studied the arrival directions of astrophysical neutrinos with energies more than a trillion electronvolts (TeV) and came to an unexpected conclusion: all of them are born…

Disney+ Added Content Disclaimers to 18 Episodes of ‘The Muppet Show’

118 episodes of Jim Henson’s classic TV series The Muppet Show are now streaming on Disney+, writes the AV Club — but 18 episodes now begin with a content disclaimer… The text of the disclaimers, which cannot be skipped past and include little 12-second timers so you know that you have to sit through them, explain that the episodes feature “negative…

UAE’s Hope mission to Mars arrives today: How to watch

The Emirates Mars Mission “Hope” is a United Arab Emirates Space Agency uncrewed mission to Mars. It’s slated to enter Mars orbit on February 9, 2021. It’ll be followed on February 10 by China’s Tianwen-1 mission and, on February 18, by NASA’s Perseverance mission. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/missions-to-mars-uae-hope-china-tianwen-1…

NASA’s MAVEN continues to advance Mars science and telecommunications relay efforts

With a suite of new national and international spacecraft primed to explore the Red Planet after their arrival next month, NASA’s MAVEN mission is ready to provide support and continue its study of the Martian atmosphere. Source: https://phys.org/news/2021-01-nasa-maven-advance-mars-science.html…

BP Slashes Its Oil Exploration Team by 85%, Starts Switching to Renewables

Reuters reports on big changes at BP (the company formerly known as British Petroleum):
Its geologists, engineers and scientists have been cut to less than 100 from a peak of more than 700 a few years ago, company sources told Reuters, part of a climate change-driven overhaul triggered last year by CEO Bernard Looney. “The winds have turned very chilly in the…

The myths behind the southern and northern lights

For millennia, humans have viewed the northern and southern lights – aurora borealis and aurora australis – and created myths and folklore to explain the dancing lights they saw in the sky. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/legends-folklore-myths-northern-southern-lights-auroras…

When will the Age of Aquarius begin?

Astronomers and astrologers may agree that the Age of Aquarius starts when the vernal equinox point moves out of constellation Pisces and into Aquarius. But when will that be? There’s no definitive answer. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/when-will-the-age-of-aquarius-begin…

Conferences Plot a Comeback Even Before Vaccines Are Widely Distributed

It could take a while before the handshake comes back, if it ever does. Business conferences, however, are set to restart in the U.S. the moment health code allows. And despite uncertainty around when exactly that will be, convention organizers are holding out hope — and event space — for a possible return in the coming weeks. From a report: One…

WHO-led Team Expected in China in January To Probe COVID-19 Origins

An international mission led by the World Health Organization (WHO) is expected to go to China in the first week of January to
investigate the origins of the virus that sparked the COVID-19 pandemic, a member and diplomats told Reuters this week. From a report: The United States, which has accused China of having hidden the outbreak’s extent, has called for a…