Enjoy the great sky show in the east before sunrise on March 17, 18, 19 and 20, 2020. The moon will appear as a thinner crescent each morning as it parades by the four morning planets: Jupiter, Mars, Saturn and Mercury. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/waning-crescent-moon-4-planets-before-sunrise…
Tag: versa
Scientists Finally Reveal The Electronic Structure of Benzene — in 126 Dimensions
“Well, those crazy chemistry cats have done it,” writes Science Alert:
Nearly 200 years after the molecule was discovered by Michael Faraday, researchers have finally revealed the complex electronic structure of benzene. This not only settles a debate that has been raging since the 1930s, this step has important implications for the future development of opto-electronic materials, many of which are built…
Babies Are Prewired To Perceive the World
In an investigation of neural connectivity in 30 infants ranging from six to 57 days old (with an average age of 27 days), neuroscientists found that circuit wiring precedes, and thus may guide, regional specialization, shedding light on how knowledge systems emerge in the brain. An anonymous reader shares a report from Scientific American: In the study, published Monday in Proceedings…
NASA is Trying To Save Voyager 2 After a Power Glitch Shut Down Its Instruments
Last Saturday, Voyager 2’s software shut down all five of the scientific instruments onboard because the spacecraft was consuming way too much power. Engineers at NASA don’t know what triggered this energy spike and are currently trying to get the interstellar probe, which was launched in 1977, back to normal operations. Its primary mission was supposed to last five years. In…
December solstice starts shortest season
Shortest season – between the December solstice and March equinox – is about 89 days. Longest season – June solstice to September equinox – is about 94 days. Here’s why that happens. Source: https://earthsky.org/tonight/years-shortest-season-starts-with-december-solstice…
Middle of eclipse season December 30
The annual solar eclipse on December 26, 2019, happens some 4 days before the middle of the eclipse season, which falls on December 30, 2019. Source: https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/middle-of-eclipse-season-december-30…
Facebook charges more for ads that aim to cross the political divide
Left-wing political campaigns pay three times as much to reach right-wing voters on Facebook, and vice versa, which may be exacerbating political polarisation Source: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2227041-facebook-charges-more-for-ads-that-aim-to-cross-the-political-divide/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=home…
When is my earliest sunset?
For the southernmost U.S and similar latitudes, the earliest sunsets of the year are happening now. Your earliest sunset depends on your latitude, but always comes before the winter solstice. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/winter-solstice-and-late-sunrise…
Study Reveals How Two Strains of One Bacterium Combine To Cause Flesh-Eating Infection
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Phys.Org: A new study by a team of scientists that included researchers from the University of Maryland and the University of Texas Medical Branch used genetic analysis to reveal how two different strains of a single species of flesh-eating bacteria worked in concert to become more dangerous than either one strain alone. The study…
Galactic fountains and carousels: order emerging from chaos
Scientists from Germany and the United States have unveiled the results of a newly-completed, state of the art simulation of the evolution of galaxies. TNG50 is the most detailed large-scale cosmological simulation yet. It allows researchers to study in detail how galaxies form, and how they have evolved since shortly after the Big Bang. For the first time, it reveals that…