Tag: hallmark

Young galaxies grow up faster than astronomers previously thought

A young galaxy has the hallmark central bulge and spiral arms of a much older one, suggesting that galaxies may form more quickly than previously thought Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2267619-young-galaxies-grow-up-faster-than-astronomers-previously-thought/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…

What is the Sickle in Leo?

The Sickle in Leo is an easy-to-spot backward question mark shape made of stars that marks the head and shoulders of the constellation of the lion. The moon sometimes passes in front of the Sickle’s brightest star, Regulus. Source: https://earthsky.org/favorite-star-patterns/the-sickle-backward-question-mark-pattern-in-leo…

Bellatrix is Orion’s 3rd-brightest star

The bluish-white shoulder star, Bellatrix, aka Gamma Orionis, has a name that means “female warrior.” Bellatrix is one of the hottest stars you can see without optical aid. Source: https://earthsky.org/brightest-stars/bellatrix-3rd-brightest-star-in-orion…

Could Brain Diseases Like Alzheimer’s Be Treated With Flashing Lights?

Writing for Quanta magazine, an adjunct professor of neuroscience at the University of Maryland described an intriguing study led by MIT neuroscientist Li-Huei Tsai: Incredible as it may sound, the researchers improved the brains of animals with Alzheimer’s simply by using LED lights that flashed 40 times a second. Even sound played at this charmed frequency, 40 hertz, had a similar…

What a Week’s Disasters Tell Us About Climate and the Pandemic

The hits came this week in rapid succession: A cyclone slammed into the Indian megacity of Kolkata, pounding rains breached two dams in the Midwestern United States, and on Thursday came warning that the Atlantic hurricane season could be severe. It all served as a reminder that the coronavirus pandemic, which has killed 325,000 people so far, is colliding with another…

March equinox: All you need to know

The 2020 equinox comes March 20 at 03:50 UTC. It’s an event that happens on our sky’s dome and a seasonal marker in Earth’s orbit around the sun! Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/everything-you-need-to-know-vernal-or-spring-equinox…

‘Electronic Nose’ Could Smell Breath To Warn About Higher Risk of Cancer

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Guardian: An electronic device that “sniffs” breath may offer a new way to identify people with a condition that can lead to cancer of the oesophagus, researchers have revealed. According to the charity Cancer Research UK, people diagnosed with Barrett’s oesophagus — a precancerous condition in which cells lining the food pipe change…

Climate Models Are Getting Future Warming Projections

Alan Buis of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, writes: There’s an old saying that “the proof is in the pudding,” meaning that you can only truly gauge the quality of something once it’s been put to a test. Such is the case with climate models: mathematical computer simulations of the various factors that interact to affect Earth’s climate, such as our atmosphere,…

Why Your Brain Needs Exercise

Answering this question requires that we rethink our views of exercise. From a report: People often consider walking and running to be activities that the body is able to perform on autopilot. But research carried out over the past decade by us and others would indicate that this folk wisdom is wrong. Instead exercise seems to be as much a cognitive…