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The Eaton Fire destroys a structure, January 7, 2025, in Altadena, California. | Photo Credit: AP Holding long-term global warming to two degrees Celsius — the fallback target of the Paris climate accord — is now “impossible,” according to a stark new analysis published by leading scientists. Led by renowned climatologist James Hansen, the paper…
Read More “Top climate scientist declares 2C climate goal ‘dead’” »
On 27 December last year, astronomers using the ATLAS survey telescope in Chile discovered a small asteroid moving away from Earth. Follow up observations have revealed that the asteroid, 2024 YR4, is on a path that might lead to a collision with our planet on December 22 2032. In other words, the newly-discovered space rock poses a significant impact…
Read More “Astronomers spot asteroid that may be heading for the earth” »
The colours of rubies and emeralds are so striking that they define shades of red and green – ruby red and emerald green. But have you ever wondered how they get those colours? I am an inorganic chemist. Researchers in my field work to understand the chemistry of all the elements that make up the…
Read More “Rubies and emeralds get their colours from a common metal” »
I sit on an ethics review committee at the Albany Med Health System in New York state, where doctors and nurses frequently bring us fraught questions. Consider a typical case: A 6-month-old child has suffered a severe brain injury following cardiac arrest. A tracheostomy, ventilator and feeding tube are the only treatments keeping him alive. These intensive…
Read More “What the ‘moral distress’ of doctors tells us about eroding trust in health care” »
There’s a lot to look out for in February | Photo Credit: AFP This is a lucky month for amateur astronomers as it offers a chance to spot at least six planets in the night sky. That’s not all. Here’s the list of all you can see in the February skies. Full Moon: The Moon will…
Artist’s concept of the finished ELT, currently under construction in northern Chile. | Photo Credit: ESO A: The Extremely Large Telescope is planned to be one of the most capable astronomical observatories ever assembled. The telescope, currently about 60% complete, is intended to search for evidence of potential life on exoplanets and peer back in…
Astronomers have discovered a gigantic black hole named Gaia BH3 hiding close to the earth, the third of its kind. All three were discovered by the European Space Agency’s Gaia telescope, which has been constantly monitoring the motions of billions of stars in our galaxy since 2013. Black holes are fascinating to non-scientists and astronomers…
Read More “Scans of seemingly empty space reveal black holes not far from earth” »
Genetically modified polo horses stand in San Antonio de Areco, on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, Argentina, January 30, 2025. | Photo Credit: Reuters Argentina’s award-winning mare Polo Pureza will have her genes, or at least most of them, live on in five genetically edited horses designed to outrun the polo legend herself. Scientists at…
Read More “Argentine biotech firm breeds gene-edited polo super ponies” »
Over the past decade, furtive commercial entities around the world have industrialised the production, sale and dissemination of bogus scholarly research. These paper mills are profiting by undermining the literature that everyone from doctors to engineers rely on to make decisions about human lives. It is exceedingly difficult to get a handle on exactly how…
Read More “Bogus scientific papers slowing lifesaving medical research” »
The amplifier remains a transformative invention for being able to receive the human voice and boost it so thousands of people can hear it at once. Without the microphone, politics itself may have evolved differently; the device has been ubiquitous in everything from public protests to political rallies. Amplifiers have also transformed entertainment, astronomy, search…
Read More “On amplifiers: how do they work and what are the different kinds?” »