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Earth’s Magnetic Field Flipped 42,000 Years Ago. The Consequences Were Dramatic

A global period of upheaval 42,000 years ago was the result of a reversal in Earth's magnetic field, new research has found. According to radiocarbon preserved in ancient tree rings, several centuries' worth of climate breakdown, mass extinctions, and even changes in human behaviour can be directly linked to the last time Earth's magnetic field changed its polarity. he research team has name

Quantum Theory May Twist Cause And Effect Into Loops, With Effect Causing The Cause

Causality is one of those difficult scientific topics that can easily stray into the realm of philosophy. Science's relationship with the concept started out simply enough: an event causes another event later in time. That had been the standard understanding of the scientific community up until quantum mechanics was introduced. Then, with the introduction of the famous "spooky action at a

‘Defining Moment’ as Hope Probe Transmits Its Breathtaking First Image of Mars

The United Arab Emirates Space Agency on Sunday released its first photo of Mars, taken by its Hope Probe. "The transmission of the Hope Probe's first image of Mars is a defining moment in our history and marks the UAE joining advanced nations involved in space exploration," Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan said on Twitter. The transmission of the Hope Probe's first image of Mars is a defi

The Best Milky Way Photographers of the Year Show the Beauty of Our Galaxy

“Deadvlei” by Stefan Liebermann. Namib-Naukluft National Park, Namibia. The trees in Deadvlei have been dead for over 500 years. Located in Namib-Naukluft Park in Namibia, these saplings grew after local rivers flooded because of severe rainfalls, but died after the sand dunes shifted to section off the river. High above and far in the distance, the band of our Milky Way galaxy forms an

Traces of a Mysterious Particle Predicted Decades Ago May Have Been Detected

Evidence of a long-sought hypothetical particle could have been hiding in plain (X-ray) sight all this time. The X-ray emission coming off a collection of neutron stars known as the Magnificent Seven is so excessive that it could be coming from axions, a long-predicted kind of particle, forged in the dense cores of these dead objects, scientists have demonstrated. If their findings are confi

Humans Have Left Some Cat Breeds With Grimaces Forever Stuck on Their Faces

It's no accident that cats are adorable: We've selectively bred them across generations for maximum cuteness. But that breeding has a downside: It's left some of our feline friends with permanent frowny faces that cannot show emotions. In particular, new research published in December in the journal Frontiers of Veterinary Science suggests that selective breeding for the "brachycephalic," or fl

In 1110, The Moon Vanished From The Sky. We May Finally Know Why

Almost a millennium ago, a major upheaval occurred in Earth's atmosphere: a giant cloud of sulphur-rich particles flowed throughout the stratosphere, turning skies dark for months or even years, before ultimately falling down to Earth. We know this event happened because researchers have drilled and analysed ice cores - samples taken from deep within ice sheets or glaciers, which have trapped s

Physicists Observe Fleeting ‘Polaron’ Quasiparticles For The First Time

Polarons are important nanoscale phenomena: a transient configuration between electrons and atoms (known as quasiparticles) that exist for only trillionths of a second. These configurations have unique characteristics that can help us understand some of the mysterious behaviours of the materials they form within – and scientists have just observed them for the first time. Polarons were mea

This Extremely Fluffy Exoplanet Is Changing Our Understanding of Planetary Formation

One of the fluffiest exoplanets we've ever found in the Milky Way galaxy is challenging our understanding of how giant planets form. It's called WASP-107b, orbiting an orange dwarf star 211 light-years away, and it was already known as one of the lowest density exoplanets when its discovery was announced in 2017. A new analysis shows the puffy planet is even puffier than astronomers thought.

Solar Wind Is Strangely Drawn to Earth’s North Pole, And Scientists Don’t Know Why

Likely the most well-known result of the Earth's magnetic field are the Aurora Borealis and Australis (Northern and Southern Lights). When charged particles from the solar wind run into the Earth's magnetic field, they can occasionally elicit spectacular light displays. For years now, scientists have thought that the charged particles that cause those displays were sent in equal numbers toward