Rocks show Mars once looked like Iceland

[ad_1] The weathering of the sedimentary rocks of Gale Crater likely occurred at temperatures similar to those of Iceland over 3 billion years ago, while water was still flowing on Mars. Rice University researchers compared data collected by the Curiosity rover, correlated to conditions at various locations on Earth, to make their determination. Credit: NASA … Read more

Spitting cobras may have developed a unique venom to defend against ancient humans

[ad_1] Cobras are fascinating and frightening creatures. These snakes are best known for their characteristic defense mechanism called a balaclava, when the sides of their necks flare out in a dramatic display. Hooding isn’t the only defensive behavior in a cobra’s arsenal, however. Some cobra species have modified fangs with small openings facing the front. … Read more

Lucky Spaceship Alignment Recorded Huge Evolving Solar Flare

[ad_1] Our Sun is not exactly a serene ball of hot plasma. In fact, it spits out colossal rashes on a fairly frequent basis; such coronal mass ejections, when directed towards the Earth, are the cause of geomagnetic storms. From near-Earth space, we can measure them pretty well with satellites and other spacecraft. But in … Read more

Researchers say they have found ancient dens of giant carnivorous worms

[ad_1] Ancient worms would likely scurry out of the burrow in search of prey.Drawing: Sassa Chen Twenty million years ago, the shores of northern Taiwan were sandstone sediments on the sea floor, where 6-foot-long worms hid in their burrows, waiting for unsuspecting prey to pass by. above the seare. Now, a team of geoscientists have … Read more

Space station captures amazing images of lightning from above

[ad_1] Look down Sensitive storm-chasing equipment on the International Space Station caught a dazzling light show on video as it observed the electrical activity of a thunderstorm from above. The recordings, which were captured by the European Space Agency’s Atmosphere-Space Interaction Monitor (ASIM), help reveal the origin of lightning and even how storms can distribute … Read more

Funeral practices point to an interconnected early medieval Europe

[ad_1] Credit: Public domain Pixabay / CC0 Early medieval Europe is often seen as a time of cultural stagnation, often due to the mistaken name of the “dark age”. However, the analysis revealed that new ideas could spread quickly as communities were interconnected, creating a surprisingly unified culture in Europe. Dr. Emma Brownlee, Department of … Read more

Formation of the solar system in two stages

[ad_1] Internal terrestrial protoplanets accrete early, inherit a substantial amount of radioactive 26Al, and as a result melt, form iron nuclei, and rapidly degass their primordial volatile abundances. The outer planets of the solar system begin to grow farther and farther away with less radiogenic heating, and therefore retain the majority of their initially accreted … Read more

Squeezing rock star material could make it stable enough for solar cells

[ad_1] Scientists at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have found that squeezing a promising lead halide material into a diamond anvil cell (left) produces a so-called “black perovskite” (right) which is stable enough for solar power applications. Credit: Greg Stewart / SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Among the materials known as perovskites, one of … Read more