Unusual weather blanketed the Acropolis with snow on Tuesday (Feb. 16), turning the iconic UNESCO World Heritage site in Athens into a scene from a holiday card. Source: https://www.livescience.com/rare-snow-covers-acropolis-athens.html
Tag: heritage
Science explains why we kiss
Why does kissing feel good? Watch this video to learn why humans are drawn to puckering up. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/video-the-science-of-kissing…
NASA “mole’s” attempts to dig into Mars failed. What’s next?
The mission team for NASA’s InSight lander called off its attempts to try to dig deeper into Mars with the heat probe known as “the mole.” Meanwhile, the rest of the mission gained an extension to December 2022. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/nasa-calls-halt-to-attempts-by-insight-mole-to-dig-into-mars…
New Train Hall Opens at Penn Station, Echoing Building’s Former Glory
The Moynihan Train Hall, with glass skylights and 92-foot-high ceilings, will open Jan. 1 as an area for Amtrak and Long Island Railroad riders. The New York Times: For more than half a century, New Yorkers have trudged through the crammed platforms, dark hallways and oppressively low ceilings of Pennsylvania Station, the busiest and perhaps most miserable train hub in North…
DHS Is Looking Into Backdoors In Smart TVs By China’s TCL
chicksdaddy shares a report from The Security Ledger: The acting head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security said the agency was assessing the cyber risk of smart TVs sold by the Chinese electronics giant TCL, following reports last month in The Security Ledger and elsewhere that the devices may give the company “back door” access to deployed sets, The Security…
C1-23152: An ancient galaxy that built itself
A popular theory of galaxy formation suggests that small galaxies merged to form larger ones. But galaxy C1-23152 – 12 billion light-years from Earth – apparently formed itself from gas in the early universe, via exceedingly rapid star formation. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/c1-23152-galaxy-built-itself-not-via-galaxy-merger…
The Curse of the Buried Treasure
Two metal-detector enthusiasts discovered a Viking hoard. It was worth a fortune — but it became a nightmare. From a report:
Leominster, in the West Midlands area of England, is an ancient market town where the past and the present are jumbled together like coins in a change purse. Shops housed in half-timbered sixteenth-century Tudor buildings face the main square, offering cream…
Sean Connery Dies at Age 90. Remembered as ‘The Best of Many’ James Bonds
In 1962 Sean Connery became the first actor to appear in movies as secret agent James Bond, and according to long-time Slashdot reader schwit1 was “The best of the many Bonds, by far.” An anonymous reader writes:
Connery influenced the character deeply. The Huffington Post once wrote that James Bond wasn’t Scottish until Sean Connery played the role. Ian Fleming was still…
A 5-Story Building In Shanghai ‘Walks’ To a New Location Using Technology
In Shanghai’s latest effort to preserve historic structures, engineers have relocated an 85-year-old, five-story building in its entirety using new technology dubbed the “walking machine.” CNN reports: [E]ngineers attached nearly 200 mobile supports under the five-story building, according to Lan Wuji, chief technical supervisor of the project. The supports act like robotic legs. They’re split into two groups which alternately rise…
X-ray data reveal 1st-ever planet orbiting stars in another galaxy
While extragalactic “rogue” planets – not orbiting any star – have been reported before, the new exoplanet is the first to be detected orbiting stars in another galaxy. And not just any galaxy … but M51, the beautiful Whirlpool, 23 million light-years away. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/1st-exoplanet-in-another-galaxy-whirlpool-m51-uls-1b…