Scientists examined rock cores taken from the Chicxulub crater in Mexico, site of the asteroid impact that triggered dinosaur extinction, and found iridium, a telltale sign of asteroids. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/asteroid-dust-iridium-chicxulub-crater-dinosaur-extinction…
Tag: element
Upheaval and extinctions linked to magnetic reversal 42,000 years ago
42,000 years ago, a breakdown in Earth’s magnetic field led to environmental catastrophes and mass extinctions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/magnetic-field-reversal-42000-years-ago-neanderthal-extinction…
Ban on Wireless Modems In Voting Machines Should be Optional, Suggests US Election Agency
The U.S. agency overseeing elections has “quietly weakened a key element of proposed security standards…” reports the Associated Press, “raising concern among voting-integrity experts that many such systems will remain vulnerable to hacking.” The Election Assistance Commission (EAC) is poised to approve its first new security standards in 15 years after an arduous process involving multiple technical and elections community bodies…
Maarten Schmidt solves the puzzle of quasars
On February 5, 1963, Maarten Schmidt unraveled the mystery of quasars and pushed back the edges of the known cosmos. His insight into quasars – the most distant and luminous objects known – has changed the way scientists view the universe. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in-science-maartin-schmidt-discovers-first-known-quasar…
99th element ‘Einsteinium’ reveals its secrets
Scientists have made new discoveries about a mysterious element that is named after Albert Einstein. Robert A Jackson from the School of Chemical and … Source: https://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/news/343624/99th-element-einsteinium-reveals-its-secrets…
Chemists create and capture einsteinium, the elusive 99th element
Scientists have finally uncovered some of the basic chemical properties of einsteinium — one of the hardest elements to study. Source: https://www.livescience.com/einsteinium-experiments-uncover-chemical-properties.html
China’s huge FAST telescope to open to international observers
FAST’s 500-meter (1,640-foot) dish makes it the world’s largest single-dish radio observatory. It’s expected to open to international observers in 2021. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/worlds-largest-radio-telescope-china-fast…
SpaceX’s next idea: Catch Super Heavy boosters with the launch tower
SpaceX is getting closer and closer to realizing the design for its Starship and Super Heavy launch system. Once complete, it will be the world’s first fully reusable launch system and will facilitate trips to low Earth orbit (LEO), the moon and Mars. Construction began on the system’s booster element (Super Heavy) this past summer and, according to a recent tweet…
Firefox To Block Backspace Key From Working as ‘Back’ Button
Mozilla developers plan to remove support for using the Backspace key as a Back button inside Firefox. From a report: The change is currently active in the Firefox Nightly version and is expected to go live in Firefox 86, scheduled to be released next month, in late February 2021. The removal of the Backspace key as a navigational element didn’t come…
New and rare direct image of a brown dwarf
Astronomers have obtained one of the best images yet of a brown dwarf, an object in a mass range midway between stars and planets. This brown dwarf – called HD 33632 Ab – lies 86 light-years from our sun. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/new-brown-dwarf-direct-image-hd-33632-ab…